The Dead Letter
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“A tale of sex, murder, and political intrigue on Prince Edward Island . . . an absorbing tale that has excitement and soul in equal measure.” —Publishers Weekly
In 2001, a Canadian police constable murders his girlfriend in a fit of jealous rage. When he realizes what he’s done, he manages to construct an elaborate cover-up. Only one person knows the truth.
Now, more than a decade later, Anne Brown is running her late uncle’s detective agency after spending several years as his assistant. One day, the postman delivers a long-lost letter addressed to her uncle from a woman named Carolyn Jollimore. She says she has evidence about a murder and begs for help. With her uncle dead, Anne looks up the letter’s author—but finds that Jollimore, too, is now dead, and that a old case once thought solved may not be as simple as it seemed . . .
This twisting novel of mystery and suspense from a new star in Canadian crime fiction features the private investigator first introduced in The Reluctant Detective.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin crafts a tale of sex, murder, and political intrigue on Prince Edward Island. Anne Brown, the private detective from Martin's 2012 mystery The Reluctant Detective, is drawn into the case when she receives a dead letter, postmarked 11 years earlier. The writer of the letter, Carolyn Jollimore, believed she was in danger after witnessing a murder and asked for help. When Anne begins to investigate, she learns that Carolyn is dead. She connects her letter to the murder of Simone Villier and becomes increasingly convinced that that case, reportedly solved, is not closed. The closer she gets to answers, the more danger she faces. Skillfully weaving this mystery with aspects of Anne's personal life, from a romantic entanglement to the adolescent woes of her teenage daughter, Martin conjures an absorbing tale that has excitement and soul in equal measure. There are a few stylistic glitches, and beginning the book at the scene of the murder robs the rest of some mystery. But the obscurity surrounding Carolyn's fate and Anne's efforts to get to the truth still offer a thrill. And the charm of Anne and her cohorts ultimately make this book more about the journey than the destination.
