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For fans of Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache Mysteries.

"Wright is a master of the psychological thriller."—Booklist

A refugee from big-city policing, Karl Alberg thinks he's seen it all, but he's not even going to know what hit him.

In this Arthur Ellis Award-winning sequel to cult classic The Suspect, Alberg's search for the truth takes him to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast and into the secluded house of Zoe Strachan, a woman of seductive beauty and shattering secrets.

At the same time, Alberg investigates the sudden disappearance of an elderly widow from a village nursing home... a disappearance he doesn't connect with the Strachan case until it is almost too late, when the two seemingly unrelated events converge in a chilling act of violence and evil that will challenge Alberg's utmost powers of perception as a detective—and as a man.

Winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for best novel.

"A truly splendid book—compassionate, humorous, erotic, and suspenseful... Stayed with me long after I turned the last page." —Jonathan Kellerman, author of Self-Defense

L.R. Wright's profile page

• Winner, Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence (Best Novel)

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 & Cassandra series was adapted for television as Murder In a Small Town .

“Finely crafted prose supports the narrowly focused plot, wonderful characters, and gorgeous descriptions” —Library Journal

“Packed full of vivid characterizations, absorbing scenes, and impeccable writing....Wright has been aptly compared to Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, but it's been a while since either of them has written anything this good” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“A truly splendid book—compassionate, humorous, erotic and suspenseful....Adding riches to riches, Wright writes with style and grace, and is masterful at creating a terrific sense of dread.” —bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman

“The real stuff...superb...the atmosphere of the Sunshine Coast is as much a character as the people themselves” —Vancouver Sun

“Rich in humorous and poignant aspects as well as fierce suspense” —Publishers Weekly

“Chilling...both scary and fascinating” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch