‘Mined Your Own Business’
One of the things I find most attractive about a book or a movie is when the writer takes me on a journey, or to a new world. It feels like a holiday to me, without the departure tax. Jim Miller’s new book does this for me. “Mined Your Own Business” takes us into the world of the military, circa 1964, but in a behind-the-scenes rather than an in-the-trenches sort of way.
We are introduced to Camp Gagetown, New Brunswick; training facility for the Canadian army. We meet Private Donald “Rabbi” Hawkins, who has received his nickname for his Hammurabi qualities, as opposed to his Judaism – especially as Rabbi isn’t even Jewish. But he is a hybrid of sorts, an interesting character best described as one third Hawkeye Pearce, one third Sergeant Bilko, and one third Perry Mason.
“Mined Your Own Business” starts rapidly, with Rabbi stumbling upon a dead body (“I found the body with my toes” he says) that turns out to be a fellow infantryman, Willie Mardum, who has drowned. The fact that Willie’s drowned body was weighted down with army-issue mines (as opposed to the consumer models) takes away any notion that this was anything but murder, and compels Rabbi to dig a little deeper.
Clive Scarff is a screenwriter and a teaching golf professional with a best-selling series on golf –
Hit Down Dammit! (The Key To Golf) which comes as an ebook, a print book and a series of DVDs.
