An exciting second installment in the Doctor Annick Boudreau Mystery Series, the endearing and unflappable Dr. Boudreau returns in this complex and nuanced portrait of psychology and a city.

When Dr. Boudreau is contacted by the Vancouver Police and informed that her patient Danielle has been reported missing and there’s a suicide note, the psychologist is shaken. Danielle, who was being treated for a major depressive episode, had been doing well—talking about her new relationship and the contract she just completed as a speechwriter for a bike-riding politician’s successful mayoral campaign.

Dr. Boudreau is, once again, on a mission to discover what really happened and joins forces with Danielle’s estranged father, Ivor, a former radical journalist turned right-wing blogger. Along the way, the realpolitik is illuminated in a clash over the Knight Street trucking route, protected by the Satan’s Hammer Motorcycle Club, who has a strong presence on the waterfront and refuse to relinquish the port traffic to the suburbs.

Discover the clash and charisma of a city embroiled in politics in this twisting and turning story. Charles Demers renders a divisive cityscape entangled in questions of ownership and change—who owns the city and who has the right to change it—with humour, edge and compassion, revealing the intricacies of a metropolis on the verge of myriad transformations.

Charles Demers was born and raised in Vancouver. He is an activist and comedian, a regular performer on CBC Radio One's The Debaters, and former co-host of Citytv's comedic panel show "The Citynews List" in Vancouver. In 2005, he was the judges' choice for Vancouver's funniest new comic; since then he has been featured on national radio, in print, as well as in festivals and live venues across Canada and the Pacific Northwest and with Paul Bae as the sketch duo "Bucket"?the act Robin Williams called "the future of comedy." His book Vancouver Special was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2009, and was shortlisted for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize at the BC Book Prizes. His first novel, The Prescription Errors, was published in 2009 by Insomniac Press.

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“It’s not just the central relationship between doctor and patient that gives the story an interesting twist, but also the nature of therapy itself, with its tools and methodologies that can be applied to solving mysteries as well as plumbing the depths of the human psyche. Even here, there is a Demersian aesthetic at work—funny, personal and transformative …”

Dorothy Woodend, culture editor for <i>The Tyee</i>

“Demers writes sharp, witty dialogue and delivers a nuanced portrayal of the stigmatization of mental illness in collision with crime.”

Nathan Ripley, author of <i>Find You in the Dark</i>

“Dr. Annick Boudreau is a smart, caffeinated heroine whose reckless but earnest drive to save her patient from a murder charge makes for a fast and exciting read from start to finish … I look forward to her next case!”

Iona Whishaw, author of the Lane Winslow Mystery series