The Class of 2000 held one final party in the old gym before the high school was abandoned and boarded up. At midnight, the school emptied for the last time. Or so everyone believed.

Fifteen years later, the building is scheduled for demolition. When a salvage team discovers a skeleton curled up in a locker, a hole in the left temple, Lockport’s chief of police, Neil Redfern, is called in to investigate.

When Redfern learns that his girlfriend, Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall, also graduated that fateful year, he reveals details of the grisly discovery. She insists she knows who his victim is, but before any headway can be made in the case, another grad is killed. Could the two murders be connected?

Despite being warned against meddling in police affairs, Bliss enlists the help of two former classmates to find the killer. But digging into the past proves to be a dangerous pastime. Her unconventional methods jeopardize the investigation, her relationship with Redfern, and her own life.

Gloria Ferris is a former procedure writer for a nuclear power plant who now writes mysteries, both paranormal and humorous. Corpse Flower won the Unhanged Arthur Ellis Award in 2010, and her first novel, Cheat the Hangman (published 2011), was shortlisted in 2009 for the same award. Gloria lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Gloria Ferris' profile page

Corpse Flower is a delight. Murder and skullduggery define Bliss Cornwall’s life in the small Ontario town of Lockport, but she is feisty enough to make it all seem terrifying good fun, a confection teased out with horror and humour to perfection.

John Moss

An outstanding mystery tale with a funny, feisty heroine who will have you laughing out loud.

Waterloo Region Record, for Corpse Flower

This is a series made for entertainment...The writing is sharp: the dialogue sets the pace which means trying to stay a page or so ahead of Ms. Cornwall.

Canadian Mystery Review blog

Apart from the suspenseful plot, the book is fuelled by Bliss’s character, which provides shots of humor as her determination, cunning, and manipulative ways get her into, and out of, trouble, and by the lively and sexy chemistry between her and Neil.

Publishers Weekly

Bliss Cornwall has a green thumb for trouble. Her fast-paced story is potted with everything from phallic plants, spotted turtles, a slimy Weasel, home baked brownies (made with an extra-special horticultural ingredient), and a couple of corpses tossed into the mix. Straddling her Savage, she drives Chief Redfern to distraction … and attraction — and I think he’s probably looking forward to their next adventure almost as much as I am.

J.E. Forman

How can you not love a book with a character named Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall?...this one is a solid second novel…

The Globe and Mail

… I chuckled a great deal over the antics of Bliss Moonbeam Cornwall, whose steely resolve, madcap pluck, and hardworking determination serve her well as she uncovers the pot-fuelled secrets of her entire town.

National Post, for Corpse Flower