Daryl Ashby, a local historian and Investigative Journalist, takes great pride ensuring his work is as accurate as possible. He cuts no corners when it comes to digging at the truth, nor will he shelter those who warrant exposure for their past.
As a lover of history, he highly recommends his first-person account “John Muir: West Coast Pioneer” published by Ronsdale Press. This book provides an engaging account of the first 30 years in the Colony of Vancouver’s Island, later to be known as Victoria, British Columbia. No other man contributed so much to establish the settlement of the Pacific Northwest.
Daryl’s presentation of John Muirs’ life and his related activities in and around the colony has been recognized as a runner-up to the prestigious BC Book Prize award as well as the Victoria-Butler Book Prize.
Released in 2018 “85 Grams: Art Williams – Drug Czar”, Daryl Ashby met with every player in what could be construed as a real life pilot for the TV Series ‘Breaking Bad’. From the key members of the RCMP, to the informants living under witness protection and the men at the top of the MDA production and trafficking; no one was beyond Daryl’s reach and no one withheld their secrets.
This release is one of the finest examples of how far Daryl will go to garner the facts and then relay them in as gripping and truthful a fashion as possible.
In 2022 Daryl released the sequel to “85 Grams” with “Nobody’s Boy: Ralph Harris – the Northern Connection”. Just as the RCMP hailed a triumph over the destruction of Art Williams’ cartel, the Love Drug – MDA started flowing back onto the city streets with greater vigour than during the Williams’ reign. It took the authorities 20 years to find its source. By then it had transitioned to the new flavour of the day ‘Ecstasy’.
What Art Williams offered in the way of genius, Ralph Harris displaced it with high level street smarts and brute force. Adding a single 2.5 ton load of Colombian Cocaine and a 300 ton shipment of Mexican Marijuana to his portfolio, no conquest was too small. When lethal force was deemed necessary, he showed no shyness.
In 60 years of evading conviction he was charged 13 times yet serving not a single night in jail.