Waiting for LeClerc
by Vern Smith
DETAILS:
Publisher: Runamok Books
Publication Date: July 19, 2026
Format: Paperback
Length: 107 pg.
Read Date: September 25-26, 2026
Cecil eyed the yellow jacket, swinging at it, missing. “So what’re you trying to tell me?”
“That it’s time for you to take the lesson I’m teaching today.” Alex held both hands closed on his own chest, opening them to Cecil. “That it’s time for you to accept your shortcomings and learn from these teachable moments.”
“Okay, I’ll bite again.” Cecil nodded impatiently. “What today’s lesson, pards?”
“That, sometimes, things are not as we perceive.”
What’s Waiting for LeClerc About?
The detectives of Smith’s gritty Canadian noir, Scratching the Flint are back and doing their thing in this novella. Cecil and Alex are on a stakeout, sitting in a just-disguised-enough van waiting to catch a drug deal going down that’s connected to a money laundering business. I should stress upfront that it doesn’t matter if you haven’t encountered these two before—everything you need is included in the novella.
Outside the van, two customers are waiting for LeClerc, completely unaware that they’re being used. Not just by the detectives as bait for LeClerc. But they’re also being used as bait by LeClerc.
See, he’s not oblivious to what the police are doing—so with a pair of binoculars and some Radio Shack-level equipment (pretty sure he wouldn’t pay Radio Shack prices)—he’s watching and listening to the van and his customers
And well, what we have is a Beckett-level wait that will not end the way that any of the characters expect.
Grounding in the Particulars he
Scratching the Flint took place in the months leading up to 9/11, this is on the first anniversary of it. At least in part, this reflects shifting attitudes toward certain crimes, attitudes toward Police, and so on. But more than anything else, this serves to ground the works in a particular time. This isn’t a vague time-frame—it’s definite: September 11, 2002.
There are also references to two well-known drug users/addicts. One was in the news at the time, the other had a connection to one of the characters—this gives Smith the chance to use these to discuss attitudes toward the headline maker, and to tell us something about the one with the connection.
All in all—this makes everything that Smith is doing here smack of realism. Where some people would give us a vibe of early-2000s, drop a pop culture reference or two, and then keep things vague when it comes to particular people and/or would invent a celebrity name to use. Smith doesn’t give us solid, real times and people, which just adds to the atmosphere and character work.
So, what did I think about Waiting for LeClerc?
Oh, this was good. Yes, the title does tell you a lot about the plot—but not so much that you don’t want to read it. And boy, the temptation is to say more than that, but why disrupt Smith’s brilliance at work?
This might be one of the lowest-action noir works I’ve read. Pound-for-pound (as it’s a novella, it’s important to stress that), the sentences committed to action/violence/etc. are not that much more than you’d get from an Agatha Christie or Rex Stout novel. When you compare that to Scratching the Flint…Smith is practically throwing his versatility in your face.
The action that happens means something. It’s arresting. It takes you unaware and rattles you. As it should.
The dialogue is fantastic. Paragraphs could be written about every conversation, and I easily could’ve read a version of this that takes place over nine hours instead of three (although I’d have a really hard time believing LeClerc’s customers would wait that long). In discussions over books, music, religion, clothing, odors…you learn so much about these people in very few words—and more than once you’ll smile.
The other big takeaway from this is the danger in underestimating your target. And noir is always good at that.
This novella deserves more, but you have to dig into scenes, motives, and events in a way that’d ruin the impact. So, I won’t—I’ll just tell you that you’re missing out if you pass this up.
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author—my thanks to him for it. However, this is a book I chose to read and write about, and my opinions are my own.
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