Meet Jane Yeats. She’s a still-grieving widow who smokes and sometimes drinks too much. Jane is also an acclaimed business writer who supports herself exposing corruption among the business elite.

In this first mystery Jane is asked to investigate the murder of a highly unpopular developer. The prime suspect is his estranged gay son. The murderer could also be someone involved in organized crime. Clever, fast-paced, irreverent and brimming with insider tidbits about big business, Sudden Blow introduces an appealing new heroine, full of contradictions.

Liz Brady, an editor for twenty years, has a Ph.D. in Virginia Woolf from the University of London. She is the author of Tintype (Fiddlehead Poetry Books) and Marian Engel and Her Works (ECW Press). She is currently at work on her next Jane Yeats novel and a non-fiction work on women writers and alcohol. Apart from the fact that they both live in Toronto, Liz Brady refuses to divulge which attributes she shares with her sleuth.

Liz Brady's profile page

• Winner, Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel

Sudden Blow, Liz Brady's first mystery, is full of cheeky humour, entertaining side characters, and spirited feminism.

D.L. Browne