The Winners’ Circle by Gail Bowen

(30. – 917.) The Winners’ Circle by Gail Bowen – Since Zack Shreeve came into Joanne Kilbourn’s life the Winner’s Circle has played a role in the series. The Winner’s Circle, a self-proclaimed group of law students, was formed by Zack and four other law students (Isobel, Chris, Kevin and Blake) in their first year of law school at the University of Saskatchewan. Blessed with brains and charisma they later founded a law firm that became prominent and successful in Regina. Almost 30 years have passed since they finished law school.

Legal prominence and financial prosperity has not shielded the Winner’s Circle from tragedy. Earlier books in the series chronicle the deaths of Chris and Blake’s wife, Lily. Though those deaths are years in the past they have left the survivors and their families heavily burdened.

It is early October and the members of the Winner’s Circle have gathered at Lawyer’s Bay where each of them has a cottage, more aptly summer homes. Having written a series that follows the lives of her characters for over 25 years Gail now has three generations within the families of the Winner’s Circle.

Three teenage daughters of the legal partners - Taylor, Isobel and Gracie - call upon their parents and spouses to commit to exploring together their enduring griefs a few weeks later on October 31 in the way of the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). Having learned that day “celebrates the lives of the dead by the living reminiscing and sharing some of the things that have brought their loved ones joy when they were alive” one of the girls, Isobel, says:

“That’s when we knew that the Day of the Dead offered something our families needed. We’ve all lost people we loved or people we wish we’d had the chance to love. Gracie and Taylor’s mothers both died. The sister who I never knew existed until three years ago died before I had the chance to meet her.”

She continues by talking to her Zack of what has been lost because of their family sorrows:

            “Every night we fell asleep to the sounds of the adults\\
            laughing,” ….

The adults agree to the request.

A few days later Gracie, whose mother Lily was a member of the Lakota First Nation at the Standing Buffalo Reserve near Lawyers’ Bay, talks to Joanne about her Aunt Rose from the Reserve who has reservations about them drawing on a different culture which they do not fully understand. Having grown up in “white culture and Dakota ways” Gracie has an appreciation of traditions and their power.

I can think of few other series where teenagers are given a meaningful role.

At the same time Falconer Shreeve, with Zack focused on being mayor of Regina and doubtful to return to the law firm, has major decisions to make about leadership and transition. The Winners’ Circle has maintained tight control of the firm. If the firm is to survive it must adjust to accommodate the young partners who have been kept from an equity position within the firm. Change for the founders is no easier for a close knit law firm than for any other business. It will not be seamless. There is bound to be relief that the firm is progressing but pain is inevitable.

The themes of exploring the past through personal lives and moving into the future for the law firm intersect at a gala banquet in Zack’s honour to raise money for the foundation created in honour of Chris. The foundation is “dedicated to funding initiatives that help young people overcome obstacles in their lives.”

At that banquet Regina Police Chief, Debbie Haczkewicz, speaks about how Zack, who has been in a wheelchair for decades, convinced her son, left paraplegic in an accident and wanting to die, that life is worthy living. She provides a creative image “that, like the orca and the great white shark, police officers and trial lawyers are natural enemies.” After recounting how Zack helped her son “overcome” she concludes:

“Zack will always be a great white shark and I will always be an orca, but we’ve learned to cherish the times when we’ve been able to swim side by side.”

However, the banquet ends in discord as law firm issues intrude upon them.

Drawn deeply into the compelling story I was shaken, which no longer happens often after reading a couple of thousand mysteries, by an act of violence that is shattering in its impact. The capable and efficient Joanne is left reeling.

Gail’s 17^th book in the Joanne Kilbourn series is among the best. It takes a truly gifted writer to write so well so long into a series.

****

Bowen, Gail – 2011 Questions and Answers with Gail; 2011 Suggestions for Gail on losing court cases; The author's website is http://www.gailbowen.com/ - (2011) Deadly Appearances; (2013) Murder at the Mendel; The Wandering Soul Murders (Not reviewed); A Colder Kind of Death (Not reviewed); A Killing Spring (Not reviewed); Verdict in Blood (Not reviewed); (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2012) - "B" is for Gail Bowen; (2012) - Kaleidoscope and Q & A on Kaleidoscope; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A and Comparing with How the Light Gets In; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind and Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction; Hardcover

Black Thursday by Scott Gregory Miller

Black Thursday by Scott Gregory Miller – What an opening! Dr. George Sterling, 100 years old, is enjoying a massage before the birthday celebration of becoming a centenarian at his care home  when new hands are around his neck and he is strangled to death. The killer leaves a message. A large lump of coal has been stuffed into his mouth and the words “murderer” in Ukrainain written on his forehead.

Miller is at his best in opening scenes. I echo in this review the opening sentence of my review of Silence Invites the Dead, the first book in the Myles Sterling series.

Three generations of the Sterling family loom large in the book. They are a Saskatchewan dynasty. Dr. Sterling was a prominent doctor and businessman arriving in Estevan in 1931. His son, Hubert Sterling, has been a long term judge. Grandson, Myles Sterling, is a journalist who gained national fame for reporting from the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda.
 

Who would want to kill a man 100 years old? There is clearly a fierce bitterness in the killer.
 

While the murder occurs in 1994 in Prince Albert the messages makes clear that the motivation for the killing reaches back 60 years to the tumultuous events surrounding the Miners’ Strike at Bienfait and Estevan in the Great Depression.

Miller divides the story between the early 1930’s and the investigation by Myles in 1994.

Narrating the story in the 1930’s is another Sterling journalist. Darcy, a long deceased cousin of Myles, who left his memoirs with the father of Myles. The memoirs have always had a conspicuous gap from the early 1930's. Myles surreptitiously obtains the missing pages at the family home. They recount what happened around the Strike.

Darcy was infiltrated into the ranks of the Slavic miners who worked the coal seams near Estevan for the Souris Mining Company. Dr. George, as much businessman as doctor, wanted spies among the miners.

Coal prices have dropped during the Depression but the mine operators, determined to have profits, arbitrarily decrease wages and summarily fire miners. It is a constant struggle for the miners to survive.

In 1994 Myles goes from P.A., where he is working for the daily paper, to Estevan to seek out the bitterness that led to the murder of his grandfather six decades after the Strike. He finds tensions still exist between management and workers. The company wants to eliminate the oiler position in the operation of a giant new dragline, the Prairie King.

With the memoirs to aid him Myles looks for information on who was connected to the Strike that would want to kill his grandfather. He finds almost everyone. His grandfather was openly racist and derogatory of the Slavic immigrant miners. As a scion of the Anglo Canadian establishment he was committed to keeping the Bohunks in their place economically and socially.

When union representatives arrive to organize the miners it is inevitable there will be a violent confrontation.

Myles finds himself intrigued by a lovely clever librarian in Estevan who has an encyclopedic knowledge of local events and history.

I was intrigued by cousin Darcy. Seeing himself as a decent man he puts himself into an impossible situation. Wanting to do right by his cousin by informing on the miners while becoming friends with and living among the miners.

Myles finds learning about family history can be disturbing.

The book, as occurred in real life, comes to a climax on the Thursday when the miners, seeking to have a protest parade in Estevan, are confronted by the RCMP. The events of that hot summer afternoon are vividly recounted in the book.

Black Thursday is a good story. It is better than Silence Invites the Dead. The plotting is more assured, though I dislike the form of ending, and the characters are interesting and well developed. I hope there will be more Myles Sterling adventures.

****

 Miller, Scott Gregory – (2008) – Silence Invites the Dead;

Set Free by Anthony Bidulka

Set Free by Anthony Bidulka – Anthony’s first standalone has a setting distant from the Saskatchewan based mysteries of his earlier two series featuring Russell Quant and Adam Saint.
Set Free mainly takes place in Boston though the locale is not immediately clear at the start of the book. Anthony unfolds action and then adds back story. The reader gradually discovers the characters and their histories.

The book is more complex in structure than Anthony’s previous books. It opens with an excerpt from a book written by Jaspar Willis, his protagonist. That book, also called Set Free, and therefore Anthony’s book Set Free have a great opening line:

      I would have packed less if I knew I was going to die.

The Jaspar Set Free non-fiction is the Bidulka fictional Set Free.

Jaspar is kidnapped in Marrakech, Morocco on his way from the airport to his hotel. He is held in a dismal room. While there he is beaten and photographed as his kidnappers pursue an unknown goal.
Why Jaspar is in Morocco subsequently unfolds.

Jaspar and his wife, Jenn, unexpectedly had a daughter, Mikki. In a reversal of traditional gender duties Jaspar stays home and Jenn is the primary earner. While at home Jaspar pursues a relatively undistinguished writing career. Jenn is working hard as a lawyer.

Their lives are upended when Jaspar writes a book that becomes a best seller. Anthony takes the opportunity to become the reviewer of his character's book:

      In the Middle was a (mostly) fictionalized account of an everyday
      guy who takes a year-long leave of absence from regular life to
      travel the world. An earlier reviewer described the book as
      "gut-wrenching, side-splitting, surprisingly heartfelt, a
      must-read for anyone wading through the mess of midlife.
     When the New York Times called it "the Eat, Pray Love for middle
      aged men and the women trying to love them," sales exploded.

With success life becomes hectic. Jaspar rides the publicity wave now demanded of the famed in America. Some fortune accompanies the fame but Jaspar needs more than one best seller for a secure financial life.

Tragedy strikes the family living the American dream. To say more may spoil the book for some readers but I cannot review it without discussing those events. Venture no further if you prefer to limit your knowledge of the book.

Mikki is abducted. Jaspar and Jenn are left barely functioning. The intense strain is exacerbated by whether Jaspar is at fault. Their friend, Katie Edwards, a local T.V. reporter helps them cope with the media onslaught.

While the story of Mikki's kidnapping is being revealed Jaspar is moved from captivity in the city to the country. With little food his body gradually deteriorates. His mind becomes pre-occupied with Mikki. In the forms of a child and as a teenager she joins him at night. While surreal the story is powerful in imagining how body and mind react to prolonged deprivation.

As I was feeling uncomfortable that the story was drifting into the too incredible that diminished my enjoyment of Anthony’s previous book, The Women of Skawa Island,  Anthony brings the plot together in a truly unexpected and credible way.

I have not read a plot where the lead character is both the parent of a kidnapped child and a kidnap victim himself. Anthony delves into the mind of Jaspar in both scenarios. The title of the book becomes perfect.

Beyond those issues Anthony explores a writer’s responsibility to the facts and a journalist’s ethics in the midst of a huge story.

Anthony's real life love of travel is reflected in the book by setting a significant part of the story in Morocco. All of his books have had his lead character travel to a fascinating distant land as part of the plot.

Anthony does well in building tension and keeping the reader off-balance. Set Free is a rare intelligent thriller unlike most American thrillers in that there is not a steady accumulation of bodies. A reader can enjoy the book as a thriller yet be left thinking about freedom. Anthony has written a fine book. (And take a look at his website to see how the book was inspired by a trip made to celebrate his 50th birthday.)

****

** Bidulka, Anthony – Russell Quant series and Adam Saint series and standalone:

Russell Quant books - (2004) - Amuse Bouche (Most
Interesting of 2004 – fiction and non-fiction); (2005) - Flight of Aquavit (2nd Best fiction in 2005); (2005) - Tapas on the Ramblas; (2006) - Stain of the Berry; (2008) - Sundowner Ubuntu; (2009) - Aloha, Candy Hearts; (2010) - Date with a Sheesha; (2012) - Dos Equis; Paperback or Hardcover

Adam Saint books - (2013) - When the Saints Go Marching In

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley – The third Flavia de Luce mystery opens with a flourish. Flavia is having her fortune told by an elderly gypsy woman just outside the local Anglican church, St. Tancred, and resenting the extra shilling demanded for an explanation of the woman the gypsy sees on the mountain. Flavia, the daughter, anxious for any possible word of her late mother, Harriet, wins out over Flavia, the scientific skeptic and pays the shilling. The gypsy explains:

“She is trying to come home,” she said. “This …. woman …. is trying to come home from the cold. She wants you to help her.”

A shocked Flavia leaps to her feet knocking over the table and candle and setting the tent alight.

When the smoke has settled Flavia makes her way inside to see how the aged gypsy, Fenella, is faring and offer an apology. Fenella is exhausted. As usual, the 11 year old Flavia decisively takes action inviting Fenella to stay on a meadow, the Palings, that is a part of the family estate, Buckshaw. Flavia of course accompanies her on the horse drawn wagon to the Palings.

On the way there is a confrontation with Mrs. Bull that Flavia deflects with some clever untruths. Fenella is impressed:

“So,” she said, suddenly animated, as if the encounter with Mrs. Bull had warmed her blood, “you lie like us. You lie like a Gypsy.”

“Is that good?” I asked. “Or bad.”

Her answer was slow in coming.

“It means you will live a long life.”

Flavia, after leaving the weary Gypsy, heads home. Thinking of something to eat, for she has missed lunch, Flavia lets her guard down as she enters the house and is assailed by her sisters, Daffy and Feely, who bundle her downstairs so they can humiliate and interrogate her on a missing brooch.

After a family parley the de Luce family retires for the evening.

Late into the night, close to morning, Flavia leaves Buckshaw to visit Fenella and finds her badly injured. Realizing her limited Girl Guide first aid is inadequate Flavia pursues help. 

When Fenella is taken away to the hospital Flavia happily realizes there will be another criminal investigation by the esteemed Inspector Hewitt. While he professes to not need her assistance she is undeterred.

Riding her trusty bike, Gladys, Flavia tirelessly rides around the country diligently seeking information.

The book sees the greatest use of Flavia’s chemistry acumen. She is constantly reflecting on the chemical composition of items:

Red blood cells, I remembered from my chemical experiments, were really not much more than a happy soup of water, sodium, potassium, chloride, and phosphorus.

While she would prefer science solve all she learns an obscure, supposedly extinct, religious sect, the Hobblers, may be involved.

Back at Buckshaw, it appears ever more clear that her father is on the verge of losing the ancestral home because of succession duties on Harriet’s estate.

I liked A Red Herring Without Mustard as much as the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and much better than The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag.

Flavia is at the forefront of A Red Herring Without Mustard and has no difficulty carrying the plot.

While a disciplined scientific thinker in the investigation she is also a sad little girl who desperately misses her mother and longs to know more of her.

Almost innately she earns her father’s quiet approval by a “stiff upper lip” approach to life. While Flavia is proud of his admiration it is a way of life that prevents a father from hugging a vulnerable 11 year old daughter.

I look forward to reading the fourth in the series.

****

Bradley, Alan - (2015) - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and A Postage Stamp Provides the Motive; (2016) - The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag and Flavia de Luce and Tom Swift Jr.

 

Anthony Bidulka on Canadian Cross-Border Crime Fiction

In my last post I discussed the number of Canadian fictional sleuths who are a part of cross-border mysteries. I wondered if publishers were part of the reason. I wrote to Saskatchewan author, Anthony Bidulka, and he responded. Our exchange follows:

****

Anthony

 

I am in the process of reading and reviewing the shortlist for the 2016 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel.

 

After reading The Storm Murders and Hungry Ghosts I was struck that both involved cross-border mysteries.

 

That led me to reflect on the number of Canadian authors who have cross-border stories.

 

Both your Russell Quant and Adam Saint series see the heroes in each book partly in Saskatchewan and partly in other parts of the world.

 

Other authors such as Ian Hamilton (the Ava Lee books) and Howard Shrier (Jonah Geller) also set their books in both Canada and other places.

 

You have previously indicated to me it is more difficult to have a published series set in a location such as Saskatchewan.

 

I would appreciate any comments, personally or generally, on whether the use of cross-border stories are simply inspiration by Canadian writers or whether they are "encouraged" by publishers to have settings in and out of Canada in their books.

 

I am looking forward to the publication of your new book.

Best.

****

Bill,
 

Although I have certainly had numerous colleagues tell me of being heavily encouraged to change their settings (specifically from Canada to the U.S.) to appeal to a broader market, I can only publicly comment on my own experience. With both the Quant and Saint books, the multiple settings simply reflect my personal choice and desire to join together my love of writing with my love for both Saskatchewan and travel.

Writing about Saskatchewan is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is in attracting readers unfamiliar with Saskatchewan and even Canada in general. Readers like to read about the familiar and characters and places they can relate to.

People love to see themselves in the books they read. My view and hope has always been that such challenges may be overcome through aggressive marketing and simply writing a good story.

Paradoxically, the opportunity comes from the same source: writing about a place so few people know about. Many readers love to read about the unknown, to learn, to experience something new through reading. In a way, my Saskatchewan settings are what set my two series apart, which can be a very good thing if you take advantage of it.

My new book, Set Free, will not have a Saskatchewan setting, with most of the action taking place in Boston and Morocco. This will be my first published work without an obvious Saskatchewan tie.

This choice was, again, my own. At this point in my career, fifteen plus years in, I am seeking creative challenge and change, and this is one of them. For Set Free, a stand-alone, the settings I chose 'felt right' for the story I wanted to tell. I've still incorporated some of my travel experiences, having travelled to Morocco, but I'm investigating writing main characters who do not have the prairie background which I am so familiar with.

That being said, I never say never, and may be back to writing a Saskatchewan set story next time around.

Best

Why Do so Many Canadian Crime Fiction Series have Cross-border settings?

In reading The Storm Murders by John Farrow and Hungry Ghosts by Peggy Blair back to back I was struck that each involved two settings – one in Canada and one outside Canada. The use of cross border locales started me thinking about the number of Canadian mysteries that are set in Canada and another country.

One of my favourite authors is Anthony Bidulka. Both of his series have cross border settings.

In each of the Russell Quant series we see Russell spending time in Saskatchewan and in some other distant, usually exotic, spot somewhere in the world. In the opening book, Amuse Bouche, Russell is off to France to search for a missing fiancée who failed to show up for a gay wedding in Saskatoon. In Tapas on the Ramblas he is gone to the Mediterranean for a cruise. In Sundowner Ubuntu the destination is South Africa.

Anthony’s second series featuring disaster recover agent, Adam Saint, combines Saskatchewan and Ontario with Saint going on missions outside Canada. In the opening book, When the Saints Go Marching In, Saint goes to Russia.

In Silence Invites the Dead by Scott Gregory Miller the book opens in Rwanda during the genocide of the 1990’s and continues in rural Saskatchewan.

A quartet of successful crime fiction series by Canadian authors have adopted the cross border theme for settings.

Ian Hamilton has created a wonderful sleuth in Ava Lee. She is an accountant who is skilled in Chinese martial arts. While based in Canada her work with “Uncle” takes her to Chinese communities around the world. The variation Hamilton has on the cross border theme is that Ava will travel to multiple countries in the same book. In the Disciple of Las Vegas she goes from Toronto to Hong Kong to Manila to Vancouver to Victoria to Las Vegas to London to Toronto. It can be a challenge for a reader to keep up with her journeys.

Howard Shrier’s tough guy sleuth, Jonah Geller, has travelled between Canada and the U.S. in most books of the series. The titles of Buffalo Jump and High Chicago tell you the American cities of each book.

David Rotenberg’s trilogy, The Junction Chronicles, saw synaesthete, Decker Roberts, going back and forth between Toronto and the United States. In The Placebo Effect the action moves between Toronto and Cincinnati.

Former sports reporter, Alison Gordon, created a sleuth, Kate Henry, who is also a sports reporter. Henry is the beat writer for a Toronto newspaper. She covers the Toronto big league baseball team and is constantly traveling between Toronto and America. Henry, in Night Game, spends time in Toronto and then in Florida at spring training.

Returning to the two books that inspired this post The Storm Murders move between Quebec and New Orleans while in Hungry Ghosts it is Cuba and Northern Ontario.

When I was reviewing The Placebo Effect I thought it unusual to involve multiple countries in crime fiction. When I actually looked at my reading I realized there are, as set out in this post, a significant number of Canadian mystery series that have settings in and out of Canada in the same book.

While certainly a minority of Canadian crime fiction series the cross border settings led me to wonder if Canadian authors face “encouragement” from publishers to include other parts of the world as locales for the cases of their Canadian sleuths.

I had recalled Anthony Bidulka remarking it is harder to get published a series set in Saskatchewan. I asked Anthony about the cross-border settings taking place in Canadian crime fiction. Our email exchange will be my next post.

Heritage Poultry in Saskatchewan Crime Fiction

 

Young Blue Andalusian

Lee Crawford, in What’s Left Behind by Gail Bowen, is a Saskatchewan farmer who raises heritage poultry. The birds include “Blue Andalusians, scarlet-combed Langshans, Swedish Flower , Ridley Bronze turkeys and pink-billed Aylesbury ducks”. She is raising the birds to help keep the varieties alive and promote diversity in poultry. I had never heard of any of these birds.

In the book they are described as beautiful distinctive birds and Joanne's daughter, Taylor, creates paintings of the birds.

I went through the internet to learn about and find photos of these heritage poultry.

According to Wikipedia the Blue Andalusians are:

The slate-blue plumage of the Andalusian is caused by a dilution gene, which, in combination with the E gene for black plumage, produces partial dilution of the melanin which gives the black colour. Not all Andalusians are blue: birds with two copies of the gene have near-total dilution, and are off-white; birds with no copies have no dilution, and are black; those with one copy have partial dilution, and are blue. Blue birds occur, in Mendelian proportion, twice as often as each of the other colours. All are present in the population

The Livestock Conservancy website advises that Langshans are large feather legged chickens who originated in China:

Langshans Chicken with feathered legs

The Langshan had been bred in this damp district for centuries and was prized for good reason. The breed, though smaller than the Cochin and Brahma, is a large breed with males weighing 9.5 lbs and females 7.5 lbs. Langshan chickens lay a large number of very dark brown eggs; the eggs sometimes having a purplish tint. The breed has white skin, full breasts, and an abundance of white meat rich in flavor. The white meat of the Langshan is also particularly white in color.

Greenfire Farms on its website advises it brought Swedish Flower Hens to America:



Swedish Flour Hen Cock

Swedish flower hens are the largest breed of chickens native to Sweden. Roosters can weigh as much as 8 lbs. With the commercialization of Sweden’s poultry flocks in the last half of the 20th Century, this breed almost became extinct. A couple of decades ago remnant flocks were identified in three small, rural Swedish villages and a focused effort was made to save the breed. By the late 1980s fewer than 500 birds existed in the world. Today, about a thousand Swedish flower hens live in about fifty scattered flocks, and until Greenfire Farms began working with this breed, few if any could be found outside remote villages in Sweden.

I was startled to learn that the Ridley Bronze turkeys originated in Saskatchewan! I think of breeds coming from far off lands such as the Langershans rather than just down the road. I feel I should have known about them. The Heritage Livestock Club of Eastern Ontario sets out their background:

The Ridley Bronze turkey was developed by John Richardson of Saltcoats, SK during the 1940’s. He wanted a calm, hardy, meat turkey that was prolific and could reproduce naturally. He sought out the best stock available, crossed them together and created his ideal. While doing so, a turkey strain unique to Canada was born.

Ridley Bronze Turkey

During the 1940’s and ‘50’s, the Ridley family became involved in farming this turkey strain as well. Maree Willis (nee Ridley) and her husband Fred established their own turkey farm also in Saltcoats, SK, followed by her brother George Ridley who developed his own turkey breeding farm in Leslie, SK. In the early ‘80s, the University of SK obtained turkey stock from George Ridley for study and breeding.  It was at this time that this turkey variety garnered the name “Ridley Bronze” by way of the university. By 1981 the Ridley families were no longer turkey farming and had dispersed all of their turkeys, so the Ridley Bronze turkey remained solely in the hands of the university as well as a handful of private breeders. In 2008, budgetary constraints resulted in the closure of the University of SK program and their flock dispersed to private breeders across Canada. This dispersal went poorly with the result being that they all but disappeared.

Sadly their survival remains precarious. There were but 250 breeding females identified in 2015.

The Beauty of Birds website has a great story on walking Aylesbury ducks:

The breed was developed around the early 18th century and became a cottage industry in Aylesbury in southern England. The ducks were walked to the markets in London, some forty miles (64 km) to the south, stopping at night at inns which provided large enclosed yards for a charge of a few birds. Each morning the feet of the birds were given some protection by driving them across a shallow ditch filled with cold tarry solution which made their feet sticky, then through sawdust which adhered to their feet.

I never knew poultry could be so interesting. What you are inspired to learn from crime fiction.

****

Bowen, Gail – (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2011) - Deadly Appearances; (2012) - Kaleidoscope; (2013) - Murder at the Mendel; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series; (2016) - What's Left Behind; Hardcover

What’s Left Behind by Gail Bowen

What’s Left Behind by Gail Bowen – The 16^th Joanne Kilbourn mystery involves urban and rural Saskatchewan and their interaction.

In Regina Joanne is in the midst of a bruising political campaign over a referendum on bylaws that would restrict urban sprawl and promote mixed use developments in the city. She is leading the Yes forces against the city’s largest developer and past adversary, Lancaster Developments.

In the country the beautiful Lee Crawford is an intriguing young woman. A graduate of the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan she returned to run the family farm after her stepfather, Colin Brokenshire, was killed in a farm accident.

While it is no longer unusual for a woman to be a farmer what is unexpected is that Lee is raising heritage poultry, heirloom apples and heirloom vegetables. In particular, the poultry caught my attention - “Blue Andalusians, scarlet-combed Langshans, Swedish Flower Hens, Ridley Bronze turkeys and pink-billed Aylesbury ducks”.

Lee is also a member of the Citizens for Planned Growth Group (CPG), a collection of organizations, providing volunteers for the Yes campaign but they are a fractious group.

Within the family Joanne and her husband, Zack Shreeve, are hosting the wedding of their oldest son Peter and Maisie, the twin sister of Lee, at their cottage at Lawyers Bay. They are an optimistic family planning an outdoor wedding in May. While our province finally sheds winter and becomes green in May there is the risk of snow not just rain through the month.

Their confidence is well founded as the sun shines wedding morning but tension arises. Simon Weber, the emotionally troubled former lover of Lee, appears off shore in a yellow canoe. Constrained by a court order from coming ashore he still desperately wants to see Lee and sits there watching the festivities for over four hours.

During the wedding reception, Lee accepts the long standing proposal of her neighbour, Bobby Stevens, and Joanne ends the day happy but a little uneasy.

During the night Lee’s heritage poultry are killed. The next day emotions are roiling everywhere as accusations and denials flow back and for between the Yes and No forces.

Rumours are floated about Lee’s background. At a meeting she asks not be made the focal point of the campaign fueling more speculation. Joanne and her trusted advisor, Milo, work to dampen the fury and keep their supporters focused on the issues.

When Lee is murdered in the barn at her farm I was surprised. I did not see Lee becoming the victim. She was a fascinating character with an interesting background and future yet there are real issues in her past. It is not often an author can create such a sympathetic victim who still arouses murderous passions in other characters.

It is a book filled with emotions in and out of families past and present.

 

Not many mysteries discuss the impact on a woman of being the mother of young children:

 

    The dagger nails were now short and unpolished, the flaxen hair  

    had returned to its natural honey blond, and these days Margot's

    wardrobe was pretty much wash and wear. That morning she was

    in sneakers, blue jean cutoffs, and a T-shirt that read "Childbirth:

    A Labour of Love."

Bowen follows with an affectionate remark on breastfeeding.

What’s Left Behind is not one of my favourite stories in the series. The mayoral election was the focus of the previous book in the series, 12 Rose Street. I would have preferred a theme in this book other than having another political campaign, the referendum on the bylaws, but a short time after the election. Lee’s role in the referendum fight did not connect with her being a farmer and resident outside the city did not work as well for me.

What did work very well was Joanne as sleuth.

As she is neither a private investigator nor a police officer her role in investigations is always limited. What she has over the police is a better sense of the connections between the characters and their motivations.

It is not often I read mysteries solved by the sleuth’s ability to think. So many current mysteries involve the sleuth crashing around. Joanne is not cerebral in the mystery in the context of formal academics though she spent her working life as a university professor. What’s Left Behind showcases Joanne’s talents in analyzing information and understanding relationships. She has a great sensitivity to the nature of personal relationships.

And Joanne becomes a grandmother again. How many sleuths are proud grandparents?

****

Bowen, Gail – 2011 Questions and Answers with Gail; 2011 Suggestions for Gail on losing court cases; The author's website is http://www.gailbowen.com/ - (2011) Deadly Appearances; (2013) Murder at the Mendel; The Wandering Soul Murders (Not reviewed); A Colder Kind of Death (Not reviewed); A Killing Spring (Not reviewed); Verdict in Blood (Not reviewed); (2000) - Burying Ariel (Second best fiction of 2000); (2002) - The Glass Coffin; (2004) - The Last Good Day; (2007) – The Endless Knot (Second Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - The Brutal Heart; (2010) - The Nesting Dolls; (2012) - "B" is for Gail Bowen; (2012) - Kaleidoscope and Q & A on Kaleidoscope; (2013) - The Gifted and Q & A and Comparing with How the Light Gets In; (2015) - 12 Rose Street; Q & A with Gail Bowen on Writing and the Joanne Kilbourn Series Hardcover

 

The Women of Skawa Island by Anthony Bidulka

The Women of Skawa Island by Anthony Bidulka – The second Adam Saint thriller opens with an apocalyptic scene. A ship in the south Pacific stops near a small island. The passengers are told a cataclysmic event is threatening all the continents of the earth. A group of 112 men and women are transported to the deserted island and left there. Ten years later a yacht visits the island snd a gay couple go ashore to frolic on the beach. They meet 3 young women and a young boy who ask the men to contact the CRDA (Canadian Recovery Disaster Agency).

The CRDA is a part of IIA (International Intelligence Agency) in Canada. The message comes as a shock to Maryann Knoble, head of the Canadian IIA. There is no record within the organization of an operation being carried out by the CRDA on the remote island but the CRDA is the owner of the island. Knoble’s predecessor, Sergiusz Belar, purchased the island before succumbing to early onset Alzheimer’s.

She visits Belar in a nursing home but his damaged mind can offer no more than the cryptic phrase “Rex save Julia”.

While intensely frustrated at her inability to find out what has happened at the island Knoble realizes she cannot leave the call for help unanswered.
 

Unsure she can trust any active CRDA agent to undertake the task she reaches out to Adam Saint living on his father’s farm near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When he turns down her request to take on the assignment she entices him to come to Toronto by telling him there may actually be a cure for the terminal brain cancer with which he was diagnosed in the first book of the series. (Knoble continues to cruelly conceal from Saint that he is not suffering from any illness.)

Alexandra, his lovely, though crude and emotionally unstable sister, accompanies him to Toronto.

Saint receives a treatment as promised by Knoble and then leaves with Alexandra for the South Pacific. They travel to Tubuai, another small island, about 50 km from Skawa. It is the nearest inhabitated island to Skawa.

With the aid of a colouful Australian they fly to Skawa where they soon encounter the women and child and arrange for them to be returned to Tubuai.

As they explore Alexandra and Saint determine life on Skawa over the previous 10 years has been horrific. I thought of Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Saint starts pulling at threads of information. He calls upon the computer skills of his nephew, Anatole, to aid him in the investigation.

In the first book of the series, When the Saints Go Marching In, I had difficulty with disbelief. With The Women of Skawa Island, while ultimately the story came together I found myself really struggling to suspend enough disbelief. In the book there is no contact with the 112 people left on the island for 10 years. The island is a decent size and but 50 km from Tubuai. To think there was no contact was very difficult for me. It is much harder to have a deserted island story set in the 21^st century than it was for books set centuries ago as in Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson.

After brief appearances at the beginning of the book and their rescue the women of Skawa island do not become actual characters until approximately 200 pages into the book. I wish they had been given a greater role earlier.

 

I was glad to see the members of Saint's family playing an important part in the story. They are intriguing characters.

 

As with all the works of fiction Anthony has written he works into the plot stops in different parts of the world. As a disaster recovery agent Saint has good reason to be familiar with locations as diverse as Estonia and New Orleans.

 

The whole premise of the recovery disaster agent remains intriguing. They travel the world helping citizens of their respective countries in disaster situations. I wish Saint would undertake such a rescue operation in the next book of the series.

 

At this time I regret to say Adam Saint has not captured my reading enthusiasm as Russell Quant engaged me. I think The Women of Skawa Island is the weakest of the books Anthony has written.

****

Adam Saint series - (2013) - When the Saints Go Marching In