Leper Tango is an end of millennium tale of an ambulance chasing lawyer who uses his ill-gotten gains to whore and drink in Paris, where he falls for a dead-end, suicidal femme fatale named Sheba. The first part of a trilogy of novels (The Graveyard Of The Innocents), some set in Europe and others set in Quebec, Leper Tango recounts the lunar trajectory of Franck Robinson - a self-confessed member of "the despised and despicable sub-species of skirt-chaser known as the john". During one of Franck's regular free-falls into the Parisian night, he meets Sheba, who moves from being Franck's favourite hooker to being Franck's obsession.
Table of Contents:
Introduction; The Beginnings; Canada's First Large Influx of Refugees; British Immigration Transforms the Colonies; Immigration in the MacDonald Era; The Sifton Years; Forging a New Immigration Policy; Immigration Doldrums; Immigration's Post-war Boom (1947-1957); Major New Initiatives; A New Era in Immigration; The Turbulent 1980s and Beyond; Developments in the Last Decade; Index.
About the Author :
A lawyer by training, David MacKinnon has worked in oilfields and morgues, lumberyards and even in the courtroom. He has brawled in Alberta and been kicked out of the Seychelles.
Review :
Leper Tango is a heady mix of Chandler, Miller, Breton and ... MacKinnon.
--Dutch Provo poet Hans Plomp
Franck Robinson, forty-something, chaser of skirts, usually the low-end sidewalk variety, combs the streets of Paris in search of Sheba, whom he imagines to be the ultimate Parisian whore. Franck drifts from bordello to bar, and ultimately finds himself trapped by his own demons of alcohol and a fatal attraction. With this hilarious novel, the Canadian MacKinnon showcases a talent for the absurd and a mastery of language reminiscent of Henry Miller.
--Glamour Magazine
May I be blunt? I loved Leper Tango. It wasn't at all what I expected, but I still devoured the thing whole. I'm going to hunt down MacKinnon's backlist and read it as soon as I can ... Leper Tango is not to be missed. It's not for everyone, but those who can withstand its blunt language and unvarnished situations will never forget it.
--Joe Hartlaub - The Book Report
Not since Henry Miller has the reader been taken on such a high energy tour of the seedier side of Paris. David MacKinnon in his novel, Leper Tango, has a lively, wry and sarcastic sense of humour rarely seen in novels. And best of all the reader is taken on a wild ride of the seamier areas of Montreal such as explored in Michel Tremblay's play, Ste-Carmen de la Main.
--Richard King, CBC Home Run
The writing reminds me by turns of Henry Miller, Hunter Thompson, Malaparte and Blaise Cendrars... Leper Tango also put me in mind of a James M. Cain novel, Postman, especially. Only better written. The observations, sidereal stuff, similes, metaphors, analogies, all that is superb. Also, I like the supporting cast, Tranh, especially, but the second tier hookers, as well. I don`t know who the hell in this country could do any better, certainly no one is writing with such wild style.
--Jim Christy
