Note: While this is Book 4 in the series, it works mostly well as a stand alone. There are definitely some character backstories that I was a bit muddled on, but in regards to the main plot, they dd not matter.

Set in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Joanne Kilbourn is a parent, a professor, a TV panelist, and a widow. Now her past comes back to her with the news that Kevin Tarpley, the man who killed her husband, Ian, six years ago, was shot to death in the exercise yard of a Saskatchewan prison. Odd as that is, it pales in comparison to the unexpected photo of a young mother with her baby in Ian’s old wallet. Then Maureen, Kevin’s wife, shows up for cocktail drinks at one of Joanne’s local haunts and ends up dead. Joanne starts digging into her husband’s past in order to unravel her current mystery.

I can see why this series is so popular! I really enjoyed this Canadian mystery. Joanne is a very interesting character with her multiple professions and her single parenting skills. Toss in the 6-year-old case of her husband’s murder with the recent death of Maureen, and you have quite the engaging story. Joanne was really caught in this balancing act – does she ask the questions and possibly dig up hurtful information or does she let things lie and cherish the memories of the husband she knew?

Even though Maureen ends up dead in the first quarter of the book, I found her character rather seductive. She obviously has quite the ego on her. Even after her demise, we continue to learn about her as Joanne digs into the past. Maureen indeed was quite the little manipulator, but Joanne has to figure out why and to what ends.

Then there is that odd photo in her husband’s old wallet. Was this a secret lover of his? His baby? I really felt for Joanne as she struggled with what to do over the photo. Should she dig into it, hoping that there was some benign reason he had this photo? Or should she let things lie, maintaining the memory of her husband? This aspect of the story really shows Joanne in a very human light as she has some ungracious thoughts about her dead husband.

The story builds cleverly upon itself as one clue after another is dragged into the light. However, they don’t all appear to be part of the same puzzle. Joanne struggles to connect them all and it’s not until near the end that things become clear. There’s also some drama at the end as the real killer feels trapped and out of choices. It was a real spin up with a final, rather messy ending. Joanne will need therapy. I was so caught up in this book, I listened to it all in one day. I plan to go back to Book 1 and enjoy the rest of the series in sequential order to get the most out of it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Audiobook Jukebox.

Narration: Lisa Bunting was a really good pick as narrator. She was the perfect Joanne in my head. I liked her male and female character voices, as well as her regional accents. While I’m no expert on Canadian Native American accents, I can say that Bunting’s performance matched my experience with Native American accents here in New Mexico. I also liked her kid voices for the various kids in Joanne’s household. ( )

It has been six years since Joanne Kilbourn’s husband was bashed to death by the side of the road while driving home from a funeral but she is forced to re-visit the event during the publicity over the death in a drive-by shooting while in the prison exercise yard of the man convicted of his murder . When, a few days later, the man’s girlfriend who had been with him at the roadside murder but who was thought not to have had any involvement in the death is also killed, Joanne finds herself a suspect. Fearing the police might not look further and believing the answers to the murders lie in the events that transpired immediately before her husband’s death Joanne sets out to find out who the killer is.

At first it appeared that the plot of this novel would follow a fairly predictable path but it soon veered off into far more interesting territory involving the hopes and fears of the group of lifelong friends and colleagues that Joanne and her husband had been part of. She is forced to confront some unpleasant possibilities such as the notion her husband had been keeping secrets from her in the lead up to his death and even whether or not his death was something more sinister than a random killing. In doing this she uncovers more than one well hidden secret among the group of friends who were once all political colleagues who have a mixture of personal demons and professional troubles they are trying to hide.

In all her roles, as a college professor, mother of four, political activist and amateur sleuth Joanne manages to be both believable and sympathetic and I enjoyed meeting her. Amateur detectives normally stretch the bounds of credibility fairly early on but here both her motive for becoming involved in the investigation and her methodology made sense. She is the person with most to lose of the truth is not uncovered and she is also able to talk to her friends and her husband’s former colleagues in a way that police might not be able to. I’m not sure how this would play out in the 11 other books in the series (none of which I’ve read) but in this story anyway everything fell into place very well.

There are other well-drawn characters, including a couple on the nastier side of the psychological spectrum, and some lighter moments chiefly provided by Joanne’s cat-loving six-year old daughter Taylor, in this entertaining read. Aside from a little local politics there wasn’t a heck of a lot that made this book stand out as Canadian for me but it definitely stands out in the mystery stakes.

Rating is 3.5/5 ( )