A Gift Before Dying, Malcolm Kempt (Penguin, Random House, 260 pages) It’s usual to give debut authors a bit of latitude. But Malcolm Kempt has done what often seems impossible – a debut that is absolutely brilliant, with no hanging plotlines, no extraneous characters and a story that breaks the heart as it powers along at just the right length. No need for filler here. Character and setting do the job wonderfully.
A Gift Before Dying, Malcolm KemptSupplied
We are in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, a remote Arctic hamlet with all the problems that location provides.
Corporal Elderick Cole is there alone and unhappy. An error in judgment put him in legal difficulties, which meant leaving behind his career, his marriage and his drug-addicted daughter. Cape Dorset is where his career will finish. It’s December and he’s called out of a sleepless night in the dark and cold to attend to a dead body. The victim is a young woman he knows, Pitseolala, a troubled teenager in a town full of them. It looks like a suicide. Not the first or, sadly, the last of the season. Her little brother, Maliktu, despite the odds, convinces Cole this is no suicide. This is a murder by a person who’s killed before. Evil is about in Cape Dorset’s dark.
Kempt spent 17 years as a lawyer in Cape Dorset and currently lives in Newfoundland. His vision of the Arctic is unsparing. This is a place where acculturation has disrupted the Inuit, who hang onto the edges of the traditions that sustained them for centuries. In the midst of what we might call despair, there is joy here and Kempt catches it in a child’s smile and a taste of fresh meat. The ending will leave you reaching for a tissue, if you haven’t already run through the box.
Seldom Seen Road, John Degen (Latitude 46 Publishing, 291 pages) This is another auspicious debut mystery, although Ontario author/poet John Degen has published other novels. He plans this as the first of three mysteries set in Burnt River, and if the next two are as good as this one, readers are in for a treat.
Seldom Seen Toad, John Degen Book CoverSupplied
Degen opens with a poetic image of a raven watching a road with a carcass on it. Then a man emerges, the bird retreats a bit and something terrible happens. The action cuts to Mark Roth, recent retiree. He’s fishing, killing time, catching the sun when a disturbance at the lake’s edge gets his attention. It looks like the police, and Mark heads for shore to get the news. It’s a dead floater and he’s unidentifiable.
That opening will keep you reading but it all gets better. As Mark becomes engaged in the crime, which his long-lost cousin Constable Jeremy Roth investigates, his daughter, a criminologist, also becomes involved. We have the mystery from three views and it all works very well, as does the family dynamic. There are a few first mystery bobbles but that doesn’t keep one from reading on. I look forward to the next Burnt River book.
Strangers in the Villa, Robyn Harding (Grand Central, 336 pages) Vancouver author Robyn Harding is developing a reputation for good domestic thrillers and this one, set on the gorgeous Mediterranean coast of Spain, is her best yet. A distressed couple hopes to rekindle a failed marriage, but instead, they find themselves in a battle for their lives.
Strangers In The Villa, Robyn HardingSupplied
Sydney Lowe thought her life in New York was solid until her husband, Curtis, confessed to a “meaningless” affair with a client. The Lowes do everything a modern couple must – therapy and talk – and then head to Spain. There, they purchase a run-down property they plan to rebuild, along with their marriage.
Four months into the rehab, Bianca and Damien, two Australian travellers, show up with dead phones and a dead battery in their van. Curtis offers to drive them into town for a mechanic while Sydney helps with drinks and a phone charger. The repairs will take several days so the Lowes offer hospitality and then things begin to go off the rails.
Regular readers know Harding, once engaged, keeps the action flowing. Just who and what Bianca and Damien are is revealed in snippets. Is their arrival at the Lowe villa an accident or a plan? You have to keep reading.
White River Crossing, Ian McGuire (Crown, 275 pages) White River Crossing, set in 1766 in Prince of Wales Fort, a remote trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Manitoba, is a savage tale of gold fever and sexual violence from British author Ian McGuire, who is a professor of American literature at the University of Manchester.
White River Crossing, Ian McGuireSupplied
McGuire writes from several points of view but the most trenchant narrator is Thomas Hearn, a sailor temporarily ashore in the remote outpost.
He’s waiting for a thaw that will free ships to sail when a man comes in claiming great riches some 600 miles north in the Arctic. Chief of the outpost, Magnus Norton, immediately plans an expedition, sending his deputy, John Shaw, along with his nephew and Hearn. The men are led by a family of the Dene nation, two men and their wives.
Inevitably, Shaw’s lust and racism take over and catastrophe is set in motion. While the events are somewhat predictable, McGuire is a fine writer and his descriptions of the Canadian landscape and time are beautifully captured. He is respectful of the Indigenous customs and characters and it’s rare to see a historical thriller with a two-page bibliography at the end and a statement of cultural respect at the beginning. Be warned, however: This book is a tough read.