About This Book

This second anthology from members of Sisters in Crime—Canada West follows women of a certain age through old crimes and new. Old women or little girls, women in dirigibles or women on their death beds, women in history or the woman next door, we know them through their experiences … and ours.

The sixteen stories vary in tone from the lighthearted wit with which the librarian in “The Fair Rosamund and the Summer of Love” shows her husband the folly of his crush on a woman with whom he had a brief affair decades ago, to the dark and deeply disturbing accounts in “Grace” and “Little Monsters.” The proverbial observation “Revenge is a dish best served cold” drives heartbreaking stories like “Natural Consequences” and profoundly satisfying stories such as “Almost Invisible.” “Terminal Lucidity” is a devilishly clever story featuring a woman of a certain age and a woman of significant age.

The persistent force of time is central to several of the stories in this collection. “The Air Affair” takes place in 1895 on a short-range airship to Paris, where comfort is a lush counterpoint to painful memories … and their consequences. “Thinkin’ Like a Red” illustrates how the lingering hand of childhood shapes our lives. In “Tethered,” the eighty-year-old protagonist is tethered to the park where as a girl she failed to stop an act of violence against a young boy. And in “The Pompeii Beauty,” a witness keeps her knowledge of the whereabouts of valuable missing artifacts to herself. In “The Hand Off” a woman is driven by the need to punish her finally dead husband for everything he took from her.

Several stories are inextricably linked to occupations that tie them to crimes already committed. In “Labour of Guilt,” Deb and Roger join forces to step in where the formal justice system failed. In “Third Time’s a Charm,” a Realtor working in Vancouver Island’s red-hot housing market discovers that the neighbourhoods she serves are dangerously close to the area where a number of Realtors have been murdered. The protagonist of “No Traps, No Spray” takes over her ex-husband’s failing exterminator business. She embraces a chance to get up close and personal with a charming homeowner … until she discovers a skeleton in the basement. In “Done and Dusted,” women working as domestics for demanding and demeaning divas use their skills to make the world a better place for all. In “Midsummer Day’s Dream,” a retired nurse’s only hope of salvaging her B&B’s reputation is to identify a murderer.

From lighthearted to heartbreaking, and from romantic to treacherous … some mysteries can only be solved by a woman of a certain age.

Featuring these talented authors:

KL Abrahamson
Shelley Adina
JE Barnard
Mirjam Dikken
PJ Donison
Marcelle Dubé
Elizabeth Elwood
RM Greenaway
Debra Henry
Karen Keeley
Winona Kent
Nuala McNaughton
Charlotte Morganti
CJ Papoutsis
Merrilee Robson
Laurie Wood

Winona's contribution is Terminal Lucidity.

 

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