An Evil Tale I Heard is the sequel to The Devil's Making in which the English policeman Chad Hobbes solves the mystery of the discovery of the mutilated body of a British settler on Vancouver Island, in the Pacific in 1869. In 1871 Chad and his Tsimshian wife Lukswaas are on their way to England when Chad is asked to solve a new murder on another British island, Prince Edward Island, in the Atlantic. Its Mi'kmaq name is Abegweit: 'Cradled on the Waves'. The Mi'kmaq are now outnumbered by French and English-speaking settlers and the island is in debt and under pressure to join Canada. Marie Évangéline, the daughter of one politician and wife of another, is found savagely beaten to death. Who is trying to kill whom? Who is in love with whom? These questions reveal great goodness, but 'an evil tale'. Having travelled from sea to sea, Chad is again pulled between law and justice in a world where secrets are well hidden and protected.

Seán Haldane was born in England, grew up in Northern Ireland, and has since lived between the UK and Canada, with long stints in Victoria, British Columbia, and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He has worked in Canada as a psychologist and neuropsychologist, mainly in memory clinics, and in the UK, most recently as head of neuropsychology in the National Health Service in East London. He continues to provide psychological assessments of criminals for the UK courts. He splits his time between houses in London, England, and Caraquet, New Brunswick. Haldane is author of many books of psychology, literary studies, and poetry, and two works of crime fiction, The Devil’s Making (winner of the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award) and Cradled on the Waves, both featuring the English policeman Chad Hobbes.

Seán Haldane's profile page

What carries the novel is not only the excellent prose and the page-turning suspense, but also the extensive historical research that Haldane, who worked in PEI [Prince Edward Island] for several years, has done to recreate the island's society in the run-up to its entry into Confederation.

Ian Thomas Shaw, Ottawa Review of Books