In this masterpiece of psychological suspense (second only, perhaps, to Wright’s Edgar-winning The Suspect), the real villain is self-delusion; it inflicts more damage than even the craziest serial killer.

In the case of Emma O’Brea, the delusions concern her marriage: When her husband Charlie disappears it quickly becomes apparent that Emma was the only person in Canada who didn’t recognize how desperate he had been to leave. And then there’s Eddie Addison, an overgrown delivery boy, far from the sharpest knife in the drawer, and dangerously obsessed with a pretty young student. Eddie and Emma would seem to have little in common, but when Inspector Karl Alberg is called in to solve the riddle of Charlie’s vanishing act, the two sets of disturbing delusions begin to converge, with a climax that even the canniest reader is unlikely to see coming.

L.R. Wright's profile page

L.R. Wright (Bunny" to her family and friends) was best known for her celebrated mystery series set in a little town on Western Canada's Sunshine Coast, featuring Karl Alberg of the Canadian police. In 1986 the first book in the series, The Suspect, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Year, making Wright the first Canadian to be so honored. Two other books in the series - A Chill Rain in January and Mother Love - won Arthur Ellis Awards (now the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence). Wright died in 2001, and in 2024 the Alberg series was adapted for television as Murder In a Small Town ."

“A stunning procedural mystery...the ending is a real killer.” —New York Times

“Wright's skill and subtlety makes [her subplots] equally interesting and riveting....She has an uncanny ability to make us pity the malefactor, even as we revile his actions” —Edmonton Journal

“Wright's writing has taken a huge step into the big-leagues of crime fiction, with a sharp, hard edge” —The Windsor Star