The Ferryman Will Be There

Ellis Portal Mystery #3

by Rosemary Aubert

Movie-industry dirt and the inner workings of all-girl street gangs provide a compelling backdrop for The Ferryman Will Be There, the third title in Rosemary Aubert's utterly original mystery series featuring homeless ex-judge Ellis Portal. When a prominent director gets shot dead on the eve of his Toronto Film Festival gala screening, Portal--who is getting his life off the skids but still rates respect on the street--is called in to help track the filmmaker's missing 15-year-old daughter, who is also the movie's fast-rising star. Portal soon learns that the girl may have excellent reasons for hiding, and to find her, his most bankable asset is trust. As he explains, "Alliances formed on the street are like alliances formed among obscure nations. They may not make sense to the powerful; in fact, they may seem foolish and evil. But, hinged on survival, they have an innocence all their own."

In The Ferryman Will Be There, Portal has moved into a rooming house from the ravine he inhabited in criminologist and former romance author Aubert's first two mysteries--including the 1999 Arthur Ellis Award winner The Feast of Stephen--but the lively character of Toronto's streets and diverse neighbourhoods remains central to the plot. The text is filled with T.O. in-jokes, beginning with Ellis Portal's name, which the protagonist shares with a subway train tunnel. --Deirdre Hanna

Genres: Mystery, Canada, Book Club, Fiction

258 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Rosemary Aubert, B.A., M.A., C.Cri is the internationally-acclaimed author of the Ellis Portal mystery series. She is the author of five romance novels published around the world and of poems, interviews, articles and reviews over several decades of writing. She has taught workshops from coast to coast in Canada and the United States and is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges, universities, writers' groups and conferences. Rosemary believes that anyone can be a writer if he or she is willing make full use of his or her talent, imagination and ability to work hard.

Series:
* Ellis Portal Mystery

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2000): The Feast of Stephen

Reviews

[Krista]

I loved this book. It's been a few months since I read the preceding book in the series, so some of the details had faded from my memory.

I loved the characters, I loved the writing, the story was ok and the Toronto locales were introduced in a pleasant and familiar way, not in an annoying way, such as I've written 100 words, so now let's add a name for local interest. I hope this series reached a larger audience than just a Canadian/Toronto market. I put this up with Louise Penny's stories...maybe better?

I'll look for the next book in the series and hope Rosemary Aubert is still out there writing.

[Elizabeth]

This is a beautifully written story of the redemption of a man with many faults as he tries to defeat pure evil on his little patch of earth.

[Lana Kamennof-sine]

I always have a weakness for books:
set in areas that I've lived in/near
that are well written
that read "real"
that provoke thought & reflection
& this book was no exception.

Thoroughly enjoyable, with an underlying sense of hope. Brilliant.

[Kathy Sebesta]

An intriging sleuth - a fallen judge who's recovering from being homeless. But that's the only intriguing thing about the book. Don't bother.

[Alton Motobu]

Ex-judge Ellis Portal, now homeless and destitute in Toronto, is asked by police during investigation of a murder to assist in the search for the missing daughter of the victim, who has disappeared, because of his connections with the homeless community in the city. He asks his friends and fellow homeless for information and goes into the Toronto underground, abandoned buildings, and caves in the cliffside and anywhere he suspects the girl is hiding. Most of the storyline is about his interactions with the homeless, their hopelessness, and the gritty underbelly of the city. He finally finds the girl in the last 16 pages and uncovers the details of the murder, but it turns out sad and unsatisfying.

[Carol]

In a word....boring! This book is quite short, at 250 pages. I simply could not enjoy the characters, the story slogged along, but I did feel the pull that it would get better, so I finished it. What can you say about a book where, 9 pages away from the end of the book, and a gun is being pointed at our hero, when you can put the book down and walk away and do something else! Oh dear. Well I finished it, and it wasn't awful... so 2 stars.

[Edith Rennes]

My interest in this book really varied...sometimes I found it quite interesting and at other times it was kind of boring.

[Linda]

Really enjoyed the different lead character. Continuing the series for sure.

[Kathleensakal]

Did not like this author

[Cindy Su]

Loved it.

[Susan Chow-Dukhan]

A former judge and street person, Ellis Portal is asked to assist the police to find Carrie, the missing fifteen year old daughter of a film director, who was murdered in public during the Toronto Film Festival. Carrie, who had a history of running away from home since she was nine years old, is believed to have returned to the streets after witnessing her father's murder.
Rosemary Aubert's use of words when describing areas of Toronto, is similar to Margaret Atwood, as readers who have walked past the venues described will mentally visualize the scene. The book was pleasant to read, but not a page-turner, as the sense of mystery and suspense seemed to be lacking.

[Carolyn]

Canadian author - story takes place in Toronto

[Mj Amirault]

Good wins over evil, excellent read

[LJ]

Aubert, Rosemary-THE FERRYMAN WILL BE THERE-G
Ellis Porter, character more interesting than plot