Sam Wiebe's "Sunset and Jericho"

Sam Wiebe is the award-winning author of the Wakeland novels, one of the most authentic and acclaimed detective series in Canada, including Invisible Dead (“the definitive Vancouver crime novel”), Cut You Down (“successfully brings Raymond Chandler into the 21st century”), Hell and Gone ("the best crime writer in Canada"), and Sunset and Jericho ("Terminal City’s grittiest, most intelligent, most sensitively observed contemporary detective series").

Wiebe’s other books include Never Going Back, Last of the Independents, and the Vancouver Noir anthology, which he edited.

Wiebe’s work has won the Crime Writers of Canada award and the Kobo Emerging Writers prize, and been shortlisted for the Edgar, Hammett, Shamus, and City of Vancouver book prizes.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of Sunset and Jericho:

Since I’ve done My Book the Movie before, I’m going to apply this to my new Wakeland novel, Sunset and Jericho, using only people from my favorite film decade, the 1970s.

Dave Wakeland is a private detective and a perpetual underdog. In Sunset and Jericho, he’s after a mysterious group targeting the city’s wealthy. I’d cast Roy Scheider as Wakeland. Scheider can play a consummate professional, as in Marathon Man and The French Connection. Someone cool, tough, and unable to be rattled. He can also play someone genuinely out of their depth, as in the underrated suspense film Sorcerer.

But what makes Scheider special is he can play both at the same time. To be heroic and human, someone with great talent who’s also out of his depth, as in Jaws and All That Jazz.

Wakeland’s younger sister Kay is an important character in the book. As his protege in the PI business, Kay is someone Wakeland relies on, and also someone who offers a younger, different perspective. Kay has a fierce determination all her own, as well as a few secrets. Sissy Spacek is so compelling in Robert Altman’s Three Women, showing a different side to every character. Calculating, intelligent, and explosive: Spacek would bring a lot to the role.

As for director, the 1970s were a banner decade for filmmakers, with up-and-comers like Scorsese and Coppola, Spielberg and May, as well as older masters like Aldrich and Peckinpah.

My choice for director is Don Siegel. The director of Dirty Harry and Charley Varrick could bring to life the action scenes of Sunset and Jericho, which include a melee in a parking garage, a rooftop chase, and a mansion set on fire.

But Siegel is also great at conspiracy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), procedure (Escape from Alcatraz), scenes involving groups with conflicting agendas (The Beguiled), and tension (Riot in Cell Block 11). Plus, Siegel’s usual crew includes cinematographer Bruce Surtees and composer Lalo Schifrin, masters in their own right.

Sunset and Jericho: A Don Siegel detective film starring Roy Scheider and Sissy Spacek? That would shoot to the top of my watch list.

Visit Sam Wiebe's website.

My Book, The Movie: Invisible Dead.

Q&A with Sam Wiebe.

My Book, The Movie: Hell and Gone.

--Marshal Zeringue