For Sylvie, Ragged Island – and the whales who swam around it – is the only world she has ever known. It is the place where she was born and raised, where she lived with her four late husbands, and where she plans to live out her remaining years. It is also the home to a community whose love for the island is immense. But when the Nova Scotia government decides to shut down the ferry service that is the lifeblood of Ragged Island, the residents see their world beginning to disappear. Sea of Tranquility is the lyrical and moving story of an island struggling to survive. Lesley Choyce's seventh novel, it contains the elements for which the author is known: engaging characters, page-turning storyline, and uproarious humour. Choyce is in top form.
A translator, fed up with translating paperback romances, undertakes the translation of the autobiography of a sadistic serial killer, Leonard Ming. She travels from Canada to Spain to do her work, encountering love and death in the seaside Andalusian town of Almunecar.
Winner of the 2005 Ann Connor Brimer Award, short-listed for the 2006 Hackmatack Award The year is 1893, the place is Chicago, and the most fabulous fair the Earth has ever seen becomes an unusual home for a young Labrador Inuit boy dubbed Pomiuk, Prince of the North, who captures the hearts of the millions of people who click through the turnstiles to see Eskimo Village, one of dozens of living cultures showcased at the exhibition. Just as he did so long ago, Pomiuk’s adventures will once again charm and enthrall all those who come his way.
Novelist and poet Claude Le Bouthillier draws on his Acadian and New Brunswick heritage to create Phantom Ships. First published in 1989 as Le Feu du Mauvais Temps , it gives an account of the end of the French Empire in Canada as experienced by the authors own ancestor, Joseph Le Bouthillier.
Melanie Gordonstone, a cherubic six-year-old, was Daddy’s favourite in every way. So Margaret, her jealous 12-year-old sister, drowned her in a backyard pool. Inexperience led young Detective Bliss to attribute the girl’s death to accident, but Melanie’s mother drives herself mad believing her husband to be the killer. Margaret taunts her deranged mother for 10 years before putting her out of her misery, hanging her from a chandelier in a faked suicide. Now, frightened for his own safety, Margaret’s father sends her to live in a remote Canadian community where he believes she can do no further damage – big mistake!
Artists, writers, musicians, dancers, and actors come to the Banff Centre for the Arts to work on their craft in the peaceful mountain setting. But when Alan Montrose is found dead, that peacefulness is shattered. Some even go so far as to suspect foul play was involved with the playwright's death, though most accept the fatality as merely an accident. Then, a second death occurs. Erika Dekter burns to death inside the boat studio. And this time, it is clear that it was no accident. Are the two deaths connected? If so, who wanted these two artists killed? These are the questions that aspiring painter Laura Janeway grapples with as she launches her own investigation of the crimes. One thing is certain: to find out who is responsible for the deaths, Janeway must be suspicious of everyone in the closely knit artists' colony. And with grudges, professional jealousies, and affairs hanging in the air, there are more than enough suspects.
Hakeem Jinnah enjoys an ordinary life of working the Vancouver Tribune's crime beat, flirting with women, seeking interested investors in a mail-order-bride scheme, and driving around in his sattelite-guided Love Machine. But when he and another Tribune reporter begin competing to cover the story of a shady stock promoter's death, he finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation. This entertaining and suspenseful debut introduces us to an unforgettable lead character. Mr. Jinnah, a politically incorrect but resourceful reporter, proves to be a wily and relentless investigator. Hindered in his pursuits by the police department, Mr. Jinnah searches out the truth in an increasingly bizarre investigation. Meanwhile, he and his cousin seek their fortune in a scheme to marry Russian peasant women to wealthy Chinese men.
All the ingredients for a superb thriller are present in John Bishop Ballem's tenth novel. On Manchineel, the Caribbean playground of the rich and famous, Skye MacLeod flies his own vintage airplane, attends parties, flirts with a gin-loving princess, and falls in love with the ex-wife of a powerful American senator. He comes to realize that there is something dreadfully wrong with this island paradise through a series of strange events: unusual shark attacks, voodoo ceremonies, and the disappearance of several children and young adults.
It is 1942, and 12-year-old Laura Campbell arrives in Toronto, a city bustling with the war effort and news from abroad. While looking for something to do in the grandfather’s quite neighbourhood, she meets the reclusive woman living across the street. Laura is stunned to realize she is in the presence of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the very same writer who penned her favourite novels.