When murder stalks a family over Christmas, Detective Kala Stonechild trusts her intuition to get results.

“Sneaks up on you with its grit and promise.” — National Post

It’s a week before Christmas when wealthy businessman Tom Underwood disappears into thin air — with more than enough people wanting him dead.

Officer Kala Stonechild, who has left her Northern Ontario detachment to join a specialized Ottawa crime unit, is tasked with returning Underwood home in time for the holidays. Stonechild is a lone wolf who is used to surviving by her wits. Her new boss, Detective Jacques Rouleau, has his hands full controlling her, his team, and an investigation that keeps threatening to go off track.

Old betrayals and complicated family relationships brutally collide when love turns to hate and murder stalks a family.

Finalist for the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Novel

Brenda Chapman grew up in Terrace Bay, Ontario, near the border of Minnesota. She has a BA in English from Lakehead University and a B.Ed from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Brenda taught reading and language arts to children and adults for nearly fifteen years before entering the federal government to work as a writer/editor. She is currently working as a senior communications advisor in Ottawa, Ontario. Chapman began her fiction career with children’s fiction. Running Scared (Napoleon, 2004) was her first YA novel featuring Jennifer Bannon. She then went on to pen three more in the series. Hiding in Hawk’s Creek (2006) was shortlisted for the 2007 Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children. Where Trouble Leads, set in the Georgian Bay wilderness, was published in 2007. Trail of Secrets (2009) was the final instalment in the series. In Winter’s Grip is her first mystery for adults.

Brenda Chapman's profile page

• Short-listed, Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence for Best Novel

What makes this mystery most interesting are the tightly knit details. Chapman never tips her hand as she presents readers with a wide-open field of suspects. For the majority of the novel, the list of potential culprits is lengthy, and the author skillfully deploys twists and decoys to misdirect us, while also dropping tiny clues to help make the final reveal seem perfectly logical.

Quill & Quire

Brenda Chapman has written an interesting and intriguing story in Cold Mourning that keeps the reader guessing throughout.

Bittenbybooks.com

What's unusual about Cold Mourning is the multiple viewpoints which at times allow the reader to have more information than Stonechild. Chapman handles this style smoothly and it's very effective in moving the story along. She is a skilled writer with nine books already under her belt.

Mysterymaven.ca

Cold Mourning maintains its low-key feel just long enough to sneak up on you with its grit and promise.

National Post

Deeply atmospheric and tightly plotted, Cold Mourning is Chapman's sharpest mystery yet. In Kala Stonechild we meet a damaged, complex and courageous heroine determined to leave her complicated past behind. … Spare, haunting and unflinching, Cold Mourning will make you shiver long after you've put it down. A gripping read from the first line of the first page.

C.B. Forrest, author of the Charlie McKelvey mystery series

Cold Mourning marks the promising beginning of a new series of stories built around complex, yet engaging, characters.

Ottawa Review of Books