A Cold White Sun

June 10, 2013
In Delany’s solid sixth Constable Molly Smith mystery, Molly and Det. Sgt. John Winters struggle to discover why an unseen sniper shot Cathy Lindsay—a Trafalgar, British Columbia, high school teacher—as she was out skiing. On the surface, Cathy was a perfectly unremarkable person. On closer examination, the police discover that her personal life was a baroque mess of infidelity and unrequited crushes; they can’t even rule out the possibility that some overwrought, entitled student (or parent) killed her after receiving a bad grade. Most disturbing is the possibility that Cathy was not personally targeted, that her life can offer no insight into her death, and that the police are helpless to prevent her murderer from striking again. The final resolution owes less to sleuthing than to simple human flaws of a realistic but dramatically unsatisfying sort, but the author’s quietly competent sketch of police work in a small town will keep readers turning the pages.

August 1, 2013

The lack of motive for a high school teacher's murder puzzles British Columbia officers Sergeant John Winters and Constable Molly Smith on their sixth case (after Among the Departed).

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July 1, 2013
Cathy Lindsay, a married high-school English teacher with two children, seems an unlikely target for a sniper's bullet. The murder frightens people in the town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, and flummoxes Sergeant John Winters until he learns that the victim was enamored of a colleague, science teacher Mark Hamilton, an Afghanistan vet, and that her husband has a mistress in Victoria, B.C. Recognizing the potential of Constable Molly Smith, despite her occasional rookie mistakes, Winters reaches down into the ranks to include her in the investigation. Molly, meanwhile, is testing the relationship with her boyfriend, Canadian Mountie Adam Tocek, and chafing about her former-flower-child mother, widowed two years earlier. The intuitive Winters, taking advantage of a careful killer's one mistake, finally puts an end to the puzzle in this sixth entry in the Molly Smith series, recently optioned for Canadian television. Another brisk whodunit in a beautiful western Canadian setting with an appealing protagonist in Molly, whose personal life gets as much attention as her professional one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2013
An unexpected murder in a small town has the cops turning over every stone for a plausible suspect and motive. When high school English teacher Cathy Lindsay, a wife and mother, is gunned down while walking her dog Spot, the quiet town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, can't imagine who'd be moved to commit such a crime. Sgt. John Winters begins where all good investigations begin--with the husband--and works to uncover the secrets of the small town, though he finds nothing that would tie a soul to Cathy's murder. Constable Molly Smith wants to assist in the investigation, not only to learn the truth and get justice, but also since she'd like to work her way up to detective one day. Besides, the case might get her mind off the mysterious man she just met on the ski slopes. Though she's been comfortable with the company of Adam for a while now, the stranger is as determined and driven a skier as she, and Molly wonders if she's missed something. Her mother, Lucky, encounters romantic troubles with her gentleman friend--Molly's boss, Chief Constable Paul Keller. And John's wife, Eliza, has problems of her own with her employee, Margo, whose obsession with a male customer may lead her to more trouble than she expects. Though Molly flirts with danger, Delany (More than Sorrow, 2012, etc.) sticks to her usual formula, though this time, the simultaneous motivation yet randomness of the killer's actions are hard to swallow.

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