Tom Thomson: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Famous Canadian Painter

by Jim Poling Sr.

"An overturned canoe. A body recovered. Presumably Thomson drowned. That should have been the end of it. It was only the beginning." This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested in: biography, history, the visual arts or true-life mysteries. Tom Thomson is perhaps Canada's most famous artist. His short and glorious career was abruptly and brutally ended on July 8, 1917. Since the recovery of Thomson's body, theories as to the cause of his death - accident? murder? - have preoccupied sleuths for more than 90 years.

Paperback

First published October 15, 2003

About the author

Jim Poling Sr. is a career writer whose material has appeared in magazines such as Readers' Digest, Cottage Life magazine and newspapers around the world. He is the author of 10 books, including Lights in Dark Forests (short stories) and Waking Nanabijou: Uncovering a Secret Past, And Smoke Signals: The Native Takeback of the North American Tobacco Industry. His latest book is Bears in the Bird Feeders, a memoir of cottaging.

Reviews

[Debra Komar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read several of the books in this series and it is clear the intention is to be entertaining rather than factually accurate. The book begins with the warning "Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors," the first time I have seen any such warning in professionally published literature. It is indicative of the quality of the series that such warnings are necessary. There are better books on the subject, including Klages' recent offering "The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson. This one feels like it might be aimed at Young Adults, rather than serious researchers.

[Barbaramarblepoling]

Very good read