4A. Books, music, television etc.
This is a list of books, music, television programs and other works relating to Canadian taxi driver homicides.
- Clarke, George Elliott. Execution Poems (Wolfville, Nova Scotia: Gaspereau Press, 2001). A book of poems telling the story of two brothers who murdered Fredericton
taxi driver Norman Burgoyne in 1949. The book won the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 2001. The brothers were Clarke's cousins.
- Clarke, George Elliott. George & Rue (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2005). A novel based on the events surrounding the Burgoyne murder.
- Clarke, George Elliott. Black (Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2006). This collection begins with a series of three poems under the collective title "Coda": "January 7,
1949", "Trials & Convictions" and "The Hangings". Asked if he intended to write further about the Burgoyne case Clarke indicated that "Coda" would likely be his last word on
the subject (conversation, Winnipeg, Sept. 22, 2005).
- Dubro, James and Rowland, Robin F. King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the Women Who Ran His Rackets (Markham, Penguin Books Canada, 1987). Includes an account of the
murder of Hamilton jitney driver Fred Genessee in 1923.
- Steinke, Gord. Mobsters and Rumrunners of Canada: Crossing the Line (Folklore Publishing, 2003). Includes a purely fictional tale of Fred Genessee's murder which
unfortunately tries to pass itself off as history.
- Blondal, Patricia. Good Friday (unpublished novel). According to the article on Blondal in Contemporary Authors (vol. 177 pp. 41-42) Good Friday is "a prose work
based on the murder of a Winnipeg taxi driver." The manuscript, referred to as an "untitled mystery novel," is in the Patricia Blondal fonds at the University of British
Columbia. The manuscript files include a "series of notes following a murder trial in Winnipeg, presumably background material for novel" (Westell, Tracy: Patricia Blondal
1926-1959: An inventory of her papers in the Library of the University of British Columbia, June 1979. URL:
www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/AZ/PDF/B/Blondal_Patricia.pdf).
Blondal died of cancer at the age of 32 leaving two published novels, From Heaven with a Shout and A Candle to Light the Sun. She attended United College (now the
University of Winnipeg) from 1944 to 1947. The trial notes suggest that she may have attended the trials of Johnson's alleged killer in 1946 and 1948.
- Morris, William E. Watch the Rope (Winnipeg: Watson Dwyer, 1996). A book about the last seven executions in Manitoba. Contains and account of the trials and
execution of the man convicted of killing Johnson.
- Gunning, Dave. "Taxi Phone." A song inspired by the 1998 murder of Pictou taxi driver Robert LeBlanc. Recorded on Gunning's CD Caught Between Shadows (self-produced,
2000).
- "George Alfred Beckett" (song). This anonymous "news ballad" was inspired by the execution of Beckett, convicted of killing of Glace Bay taxi driver Nicholas Marthos in
1930.
Various versions of the ballad exist. One of these, collected by Ron McEachern (Duncan's Cove, NS) from the singing of Amby Thomas is published in And Now the Fields are
Green: A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada (John C. O'Donnell, compiler; University of Cape Breton Press, 1992, pp. 35-36).
A second version collected from the singing of Blandford Wells was published in Cape Breton's Magazine, no. 42.
A third version was collected by MacEdward Leach from the singing of Mary Lee Mushrow of Cape Ray, Newfoundland (1912-2002). Musical notation and an .mp3 recording are
accessible on the
MacEdward Leach and the Songs of Atlantic Canada
website (Canada's Digital Collections). Content is the property of Memorial University of Newfoundland.
- The Last Fare (1995). A 23-minute video based on the 1993 murder of Ottawa taxi driver Malek Moussa. Written by local cab drivers and produced with the help of the
Canadian Labour Congress, it was intended to raise public awareness of taxi driver safety issues.
- Bow, Jane (pseudonym). Dead and Living (Stratford, ON: Mercury Press, 1993). A novel based on the trial of a man who confessed in 1972 to the murder of Geraldton
taxi driver Albert Richer in 1947. Bow covered the trial as a reporter.
- Macdonald, Alex. Outrage! Canada's Justice System on Trial (Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 1999). This critique of Canada's justice system by a former British Columbia
attorney general contains an account (pp. 83-87) of Kenneth Scott's murder.
- Rampage. This hour-long episode from season 3 of F2: Forensic Factor (2004-05) dramatizes the police investigation into the 1993 murders of Barrie taxi driver Fred
Shapcott and three other Barrie residents.
- Johnson, John. Taxi: True Stories from Behind the Wheel (Toronto: Macmillan, 1978). Johnson's story of his career as a Toronto taxi driver includes several
references to Gordon Stoddart's murder in 1977. Johnson had picked up the killers earlier in the evening and was able to give police a description. The murder convinced
Johnson to give up cab driving.
- McCormack, William. Life on Homicide: A Police Detective's Memoir (Toronto: Stoddart, 1998). The Gordon Stoddart killing is covered in the chapter "The Scarborough
Golf Club Road Murder". In this account John Johnson is referred to as "Tom".
- Janoff, Douglas Victor. Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), pp. 114-116. Focuses on the killer's two other
victims who were gay men. Talbot is referred to in passing as "a taxi driver".
- Unsolved Mysteries (Episode 205, Oct. 14, 1992). A segment of this episode featured a re-enactment of the 1990 murder of Banff taxi driver Lucie Turmel in hopes that
viewers might be able to provide police with useful leads.
- Murder in a Small Town (Toronto: Exhibit A Productions, 2001). A television documentary about the police investigation into Lucie Turmel's murder. The documentary
was broadcast as a segment of the Canadian television program Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science on July 26, 2001. In the documentary Turmel is called Marie Payette.
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