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A Novel
by Malcolm Kempt
In a hauntingly atmospheric novel set against the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, a disgraced police investigator discovers that his path to redemption is paved with ice—and blood.
After a botched high-profile murder investigation, Corporal Elderick Cole is exiled to the remote, rugged landscape of Nunavut, a vast territory in the Arctic Circle known for its untamed beauty, frigid temperatures, and endless winter nights. With his family having severed all ties, Cole waits out the result of a civil lawsuit alone—the wrong verdict could end what's left of his flailing career.
His bleak existence takes a sinister turn when he discovers the hanging body of Pitseolala, a troubled Inuit girl whom he had sworn to protect. Her death dredges up demons he thought he'd buried along with the scars of a fractured marriage and the aching divide between him and his estranged daughter.
As Cole's life unravels—and with it, the fragile thread of his investigation, he turns to Pitseolala's younger brother, Maliktu, a fellow outsider. It's then that Cole uncovers what binds them—a singular mission to find her killer.
Against fierce backlash, Cole's overriding desire to redeem just one aspect of his otherwise failed life becomes an obsession—and he's willing to break every rule in his unyielding pursuit of justice and the smallest shred of redemption.
"[A] stunning debut ... From the opening pages, Kempt's remarkably assured narrative evokes a mythic atmosphere, and the author, who spent years living in the Arctic, infuses his haunting tale with vivid sensory details that bring the frigid landscape to life. It's a knockout." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This extraordinary, beautifully crafted debut mystery blends together an arresting setting, a background of systemic social net failures in an Indigenous community, and a spiky police procedural ... If you only read one mystery this year, this should be it." —Booklist (starred review)
"With its gripping opening, exciting climax, powerful sense of place and eerie, nicely unforced mysticism, this is a strong debut. A terrific, permafrosted mystery you may want to read with gloves on." —Kirkus Reviews
"One of those crime novels where, once you read the opening scene, you've got no choice but to fall through the rest as fast as possible." —Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
"A Gift Before Dying announces Malcolm Kempt as the new guy in town. A gripping thriller—both serious and propulsive, Kempt's debut is delivered with insight and authority, pacing and style and is sure to win him fans on both sides of the border." —Ivy Pochoda, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and author of Sing Her Down
This information about A Gift Before Dying was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Malcolm Kempt worked as a criminal lawyer in the remote Arctic for seventeen years before leaving to write full-time. He now lives on the island of Newfoundland.
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