The Taken (Hazel Micallef Mysteries) - Hardcover

Wolfe, Inger Ash

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151013535 ISBN 13: 9780151013531

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010

Synopsis

Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is having a bad year. After major back surgery, she has no real option but to move into her ex-husband’s basement and suffer the humiliation of his new wife bringing her meals down on a tray. As if that weren’t enough, Hazel’s octogenarian mother secretly flushes Hazel’s stash of painkillers down the toilet.It’s almost a relief when Hazel gets a call about a body fished up by tourists in one of the lakes near Port Dundas. But what raises the hair on the back of Micallef ’s neck is that the local paper has just published the first installment of a serialized story featuring such a scenario. Even before they head out to the lake with divers to recover the body, she and DC James Wingate, leading the police detachment in Micallef ’s absence, know they are being played. But it’s not clear who is pulling their strings and why, nor is what they find at the lake at all what they expected. It’s Micallef herself who is snared, caught up in a cryptic game devised by someone who knows how to taunt her into opening a cold case, someone who knows that nothing will stop her investigation.The second novel featuring Hazel Micallef, “a compelling, unlikely hero” (Entertainment Weekly), is a stunning and suspenseful exploration of the obsessive far reaches of love, confirming Inger Ash Wolfe as one of the best mystery writers today.

About this title

From the Back Cover

FRONT COVER QUOTE:

Detective Hazel Micallef wows in her second outing. The series is addictive. Entertainment Weekly

BACK COVER COPY:

A terrifyingly addictive series I m hooked! Detective Hazel Micallef investigates the creepiest of crimes. Mo Hayder, author of The Devil of Nanking

Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is having a bad year. After major back surgery, she moves into her ex-husband s home to be cared for by his new wife. As if that weren t enough to cope with, her octogenarian mother is insisting that Hazel end her dependence on painkillers an insistence that takes the form of secretly flushing Hazel s stash down the toilet.

It s almost a relief when Hazel gets a call about a body found in one of the lakes near Port Dundas. But what raises the hair on the back of her neck is that the local paper has just published the first installment of a serialized story featuring such a scenario. Even before they head out to the lake, she and Detective Constable James Wingate know they are being played. But who is pulling their strings and why are not clear, nor is what they find at the lake at all what they expected. This is no simple drowning accident or even a straightforward murder. It s Micallef herself who is snared, caught up in a cryptic game being played by a maven of the art of deception.

Lovers of twisty but plausible plotting and an out-of-the-ordinary lead will embrace Wolfe s standout second police procedural featuring Canadian Det. Insp. Hazel Micallef. Publishers Weekly

Just as compelling as the first . . . with an even more expertly managed plot . . . Keeps the reader s heart pounding from first page to last in a distinctive and superior crime novel. Toronto Star

Inger Ash Wolfe is the author of The Calling.

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About the Author

Inger Ash Wolfe is a (presumably) Canadian fiction writer whose real name has not been revealed. The publishers have stated that Ash is "the pseudonym for a well-known and well-regarded North American literary novelist." The pseudonym was originally to be Inger Wolf until it was recognized that a Danish crime writer already uses that name.

Wolfe published her first novel The Calling in 2008, released simultaneously in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. While the book has received good reviews, speculation as to the author's real identity has played a large role in many of the reviews. Canadian reviwers have suggested Linda Spalding, Michael Redhill, Jane Urquhart and David Adams Richards, among others. American reviewers have suggested Margaret Atwood, and Farley Mowatt. UK critics have been silent.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0151013535
• ISBN 13: 9780151013531
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 415