A Chill Rain in January

Zoe Strachan, blackmailed by her brother, and Ramona Orlitzki, an escapee from a nursing home, share intertwining destinies which Mountie Karl Allberg must unravel, in a novel of evil and terror in a small Canadian coastal village

Sechelt, a village on the British Columbia Sunshine Coast, is the locale of the successor to Wright's Edgar-winning The Suspect . Among the memorable characters from the first novel--RCMP Sgt. Karl Alberg and friends--is beautiful, aloof Zoe Strahan, a new resident. Alberg and the members of the community are, however, more concerned about elderly Ramona Orlitzki, who has disappeared from the nursing home. During the search, Zoe's brother arrives at her house with blackmail in mind and she kills him. As the reader knows, Zoe has been getting away with murder for years and seems about to persuade Alberg that her brother died in a fall down her cellar steps. But Ramona is hiding in a guest house on Zoe's land, where the killer's young nephew finds a refuge with the failing but tough-minded old woman. While Zoe uses her wiles on the sergeant, she plans a feral attack on the defenseless pair. The story is rich in humorous and poignant aspects as well as fierce suspense.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A small town on the Pacific coast of British Columbia provides the evocative backdrop for this work of striking clarity and forcefulness. After Zoe Strachan's ne'er-do-well, blackmailing brother "tumbles" down her basement steps to his death, she searches his house unsuccessfully for incriminating notebooks, and shelters his previously unknown adopted son. Zoe--aloof, beautiful, and truly bizarre--challenges all the resources of Mountie Karl Alberg, who only half-believes her story. Apparently effortless but finely crafted prose supports the narrowly focused plot, wonderful characters, and gorgeous descriptions.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.