What if Mike McCardell--beloved reporter of glasses half-full and the brighter side of life--is actually dead... or, more specifically, <i>un-dead</i>? Suppose he has continued to walk among the living ever since he was a sapper with the famous detachment of Royal Engineers who came to British Columbia in 1859 and was known as Jock Linn--the namesake for North Vancouver's misspelled Lynn Creek. And then imagine that after Linn died or, more accurately, <i>didn't</i> die when everyone thought he did, he needed an eternal job and decided that the easiest way to make a living was to be a reporter. What you have is <i>Haunting Vancouver</i>, likely the most laughable, laudable and accessible telling of the area's inception and development, all drawn from Linn's conversations with a variety of its early co-founders.<br/><br/>Embark on a rollicking tour of Vancouver history where you'll meet the "Gassy" personality of saloon-owner Jack Deighton, learn of the expensive mistake once made by logging entrepreneur Edward Stamp, and be paddled in a boat by Pauline Johnson as she mulls over the name she should give to her favourite place: Lost Lagoon. Discover inspiring stories of the people who shaped the landscape of the city--athlete and oddball Seraphin "Joe" Fortes (no, he didn't own a restaurant), the openly gay politician, A.E.B. Davie, who inspired today's celebrated gay district, and China-born Chang Toy, the Vancouver businessman who rebelled against racist city planners and built the famous Sam Kee Building in Chinatown, the narrowest commercial building in the world.<br/><br/><i>Haunting Vancouver</i> is unmistakably Mike McCardell--with the same tongue-in-cheek humour, narrator Jock Linn brings folks back from the dead and delivers a fascinating local history that re-inspires a love of Vancouver and a new appreciation for all that it took to build Lotusland.<br/><br/>And it's all true... well almost.