Canada's premier author of historical mystery fiction returns with a brand new and highly anticipated Murdoch Mystery, with an older and wiser Detective Murdoch.

It is November 1917. The Great War is grinding on, chewing up young men by the thousands. Initially, in the loyal Dominion of Canada, people are mostly eager to support the Motherland and fight for the Empire. Men perceived as slackers or cowards are shunned. But the carnage is horrendous and with enforced conscription, the enthusiasm for war is dimming.
William Murdoch is a widower, a senior detective who, thanks to the new temperance laws, spends his time tracking down bootleggers and tipplers; most unsatisfying. His wife, Amy, died giving birth to their second child, a girl who lived only a few hours more. Murdoch, racked by grief, withdrew from four-year-old, Jack. This he regrets and would dearly love to make up for his negligence.
As we enter the story, Jack, now twenty-one, has returned from France after being wounded and gassed at the Battle of Passchendaele. It is soon apparent that he is deeply troubled but he's not confiding in his father. He does, however, seem to be bound by shared secrets to another wounded former soldier, Percy McKinnon.
Murdoch suddenly has much more serious crimes than rum-running on his hands. The night after Jack and McKinnon arrive home, a young man is found stabbed to death in the impoverished area of Toronto known as the Ward. Soon after, Murdoch has to deal with a tragic suicide, also a young man. Two more murders follow in quick succession. The only common denominator is that all of the men were exempted from conscription.
Increasingly worried that Jack knows more than he is letting on, Murdoch must solve these crimes before more innocents lose their lives. It is a solution that will give him only sorrow.

Maureen Jennings was born in the UK and now lives in Toronto. Best known for the Detective Murdoch books, which have been adapted into the long-running television series, Murdoch Mysteries; she is also the author of the Tom Tyler and Christine Morris books. Her books have been translated into other languages, including Polish, Korean, French, German, Italian, and Czech. Murdoch Mysteries has been aired in many countries, including the UK, the US, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, and the Baltics. Jennings was awarded a Certificate of Commendation from Heritage Toronto in 1998 and the Grant Allen award for on-going contribution to the genre in 2011. She has received a total of eight nominations from the Crime Writers of Canada, for best novel and best short story of the year. Jennings lives in Toronto with her husband, photographer Iden Ford, and her dog, Murdoch.

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Praise for Maureen Jennings and A Journeyman to Grief
• "Jennings's best to date. . . . The excellent plot takes us into the unknown (to most readers, I think) history of the small black community in 19th-century Toronto. How they came there, how they lived, is as engrossing as the mystery . . . of the abducted bride." --Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail
• "Jennings is a master at drawing out her characters." --Victoria Times-Colonist
• "A surprisingly tender tale of slavery, addiction, violence and revenge served ice-cold." --Kirkus Reviews
• "Within a few pages . . . we are firmly and happily ensconced in the late-19th-century world Jennings has created. . . . First-time readers can enjoy this as a standalone novel, and we will have the additional pleasure of knowing there are six more Detective Murdoch novels waiting to be read." --Quill & Quire