About
Toronto was once a rough and rowdy place, a muddy town notorious for hard drinking, gambling and violence. That shady reputation extended to its police force and to the man who ran it. Join Adam Bunch, author of The Toronto Book of the Dead and The Toronto Book of Love for a talk about the notorious police chief Samuel Sherwood — and the scandal that brought him down. From riots to bank robberies to corruption, the story of Chief Sherwood reveals a lot about the shadowy underbelly of Toronto in the Victorian age.
Event takes place outdoors at Victoria University.
Exploring Toronto’s history through the stories of its most fascinating and shadowy deaths.
If these streets could talk…
With morbid tales of war and plague, duels and executions, suicides and séances, Toronto’s past is filled with stories whose endings were anything but peaceful. The Toronto Book of the Dead delves into these: from ancient First Nations burial mounds to the grisly murder of Toronto’s first lighthouse keeper; from the rise and fall of the city’s greatest Victorian baseball star to the final days of the world’s most notorious anarchist. Toronto has witnessed countless lives lived and lost as it grew from a muddy little frontier town into a booming metropolis of concrete and glass. The Toronto Book of the Dead tells the tale of the ever-changing city through the lives and deaths of those who made it their final resting place.
Toronto’s past is filled with passion and heartache. The Toronto Book of Love brings the history of the city to life with fascinating true tales of romance, marriage, and lust: from the scandalous love affairs of the city’s early settlers to the prime minister’s wife partying with rock stars on her anniversary; from ancient First Nations wedding ceremonies to a pastor wearing a bulletproof vest to perform one of Canada’s first same-sex marriage ceremonies.
Dates & Times
This event has ended.
Sun, June 7, 2026
11:00am
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11:30amA book signing will follow this event
Passes
This is a FREE EVENT
Venue
Victoria University in the University of Toronto
73 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto ON


