Two Buckets of Berries

A Charlene Parker mystery.

Set mostly in northern Ontario at a cottage resort and partly in rural Nova Scotia, Two Buckets of Berries (book two in the Kirk Lake Camp series of books) features a former Hamilton police detective who would like most of all to just do the never ending everyday chores of running a resort but who seems to end up having to solve murders instead.

It’s another season and creepy poaching Bob is still peeping, Sarah has even more issues to talk about, Joe is still upset and there is still Jim in Nova Scotia to think about, it’s hot and Charlene still must find time to cook for herself and half the police detachment while they poke about the resort trying to solve the murders before Charlene does it for them.

Then of course there are the guests. Not only are the trees too sappy, too messy, too numerous, the mosquitoes and black flies are too many and too pesky, the cabins are too rustic with too few luxuries, with too few televisions (as in none) and too expensive, the other guests are too loud, too drunk, too close, too present, the air temperature is too hot or too cold or too windy or not windy enough, the lake is too cold or too rough, with too few pickerel and bass, the wolf howls are too scary and too close, the black bears are too smelly and too scary and too close, the water snakes too skittish and scary and too close, the garter snakes too, too, too close, the red squirrels and blue jays too chattery and bossy and too close, and the guests' own families are too obnoxious, too stressful, too close.

It's enough to make Charlene want to head south back to a dark alley in the north end of Hamilton to chase a criminal in a hoodie (always a hoodie), with a gun, who is too scary, too mean, too drunk, too stoned, too hilarious, too stupid and too close.

Thank goodness she has time to unwind every now and then with a good Cape Breton single malt whisky.

At least nobody died at the resort this time. Charlene could breathe a sigh of relief. She had enough work running Kirk Lake Camp without dealing with that again. It was the height of the season and all the cottages and fishing boats were rented. To top it off, a perfect storm was brewing.

It wasn't just the high humidity, heat and strong winds that had Charlene worried. Her married guests were quibbling, a young boy staying at the resort was troubled, her best friend Detective Sarah Davidson was deeply troubled, there wasn't enough time to pick blueberries and that was double trouble, Charlene couldn't make heads or tails of her own relationships and that wasn't even worth the trouble, and, oh yes, one of her guests was killed … but at least not at the resort … phew!