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Published Jul 2010
432 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is having a bad year. After major back surgery, she has no real option but to move into her ex-husband’s basement and suffer the humiliation of his new wife bringing her meals down on a tray. As if that weren’t enough, Hazel’s octogenarian mother secretly flushes Hazel’s stash of painkillers down the toilet.
It’s almost a relief when Hazel gets a call about a body fished up by tourists in one of the lakes near Port Dundas. But what raises the hair on the back of Micallef ’s neck is that the local paper has just published the first installment of a serialized story featuring such a scenario. Even before they head out to the lake with divers to recover the body, she and DC James Wingate, leading the police detachment in Micallef ’s absence, know they are being played. But it’s not clear who is pulling their strings and why, nor is what they find at the lake at all what they expected. It’s Micallef herself who is snared, caught up in a cryptic game devised by someone who knows how to taunt her into opening a cold case, someone who knows that nothing will stop her investigation.
The second novel featuring Hazel Micallef, "a compelling, unlikely hero" (Entertainment Weekly), is a stunning and suspenseful exploration of the obsessive far reaches of love, confirming Inger Ash Wolfe as one of the best mystery writers today.
"Starred Review. Beautiful writing is just one of the pleasures of this Chinese-box puzzler." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Lovers of twisty but plausible plotting and an out-of-the-ordinary lead will embrace Wolfe's standout second police procedural featuring Canadian Det. Insp. Hazel Micallef" - Publishers Weekly
"A terrifyingly addictive series — I'm hooked! Detective Hazel Micallef investigates the creepiest of crimes." - Mo Hayder
"The work of a major talent.... Wolfe is a master at atmosphere and setting, capturing perfectly the glory of small-town Ontario. ... Highly satisfying."
- Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail
"Just as compelling as the first ... with an even more expertly managed plot. ... Keeps the reader's heart pounding from first page to last in a distinctive and superior crime novel." - Toronto Star
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