The Lost Queen by Heidi von Palleske
It’s rare to read a story which manages to handle full lives like that, instead of focusing only on that which serves the primary story.
Mystery
The Girl in the Cellar by Natalie Carter-Giles
The only problem is, The Girl in the Cellar, ended on a cliff hanger (fitting for where it took place) that works as great a marketing ploy to ensure one gets the next one as soon as possible. The difficulty is that it isn’t published yet!
Memo to Murder: An Unintentional Sleuth Mystery by Barbara Emodi
The story kicks off with Heidi MacDonald being interviewed by the Chief of Staff for the position of Research and Communications Officer with the province’s Official Opposition.
Gasper’s Cove series by Barbara Emodi, books #4-6
With a cast of quirky Maritime characters, Gasper’s Cove is a fast-paced cozy mystery series set in a fictitious town on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. Each book can be read as a stand-alone and revolves around Valerie Rankin, who runs a Crafter’s Co-op on the second floor of the Rankin General store, a …
Lotus Detective series: Bind (book 1) and Melt (book 2) by donalee Moulton
Bind is the first book in donalee Moulton’s new cozy mystery series, Lotus Detective. Kristi Yee is part-owner of Vitality+, a gym overlooking the Bedford Basin in Halifax. Inside the gym is the Asana Yoga Studio, where she holds yoga classes. Her business partner, Jaxx Taylor, runs the gym and handles the finances, while Kristi …
Blood Bound: Unlacing Secret Ties by Marie-Josee Poisson, Translated by Flora-Lee Bendit
Blood Bound: Unlacing Secret Ties by Marie-Josee Poisson is a work of historical fiction that reimagines the life of Madame de Pompadour, the chief mistress of King Louis XV.
Morgan’s Castle by Jan Hilliard
Less consciously literary and considerably more pulpy than Laurence, the Jan Hilliard novel Morgan’s Castle (written by Nova Scotia-born Torontonian Hilda Kay Grant), suggests an alternative CanLit tradition to me—our dime store authors.
Ten Crows for a Time of Joyous Bliss by Vernon Oickle
Now he is just days from graduation, and things are once again going off-kilter. Alex has noticed an increase in patients coming into the hospital who are victims of violent episodes.
Operation Betrayed by Helen C. Escott
“Every woman has value, and we deserve to have our murders investigated and solved and our killers locked away.” – Sister Pius
Tim Brown Mysteries by Jan Fancy Hull
It’s 1999, and Tim Brown is taking an unprecedented sabbatical from editing the South River Times to delve into the connections between his many communities: the newspaper, the church choir, the local diner, the Chamber of Commerce, even the Nova Scotia Legislature. His mix of canniness and naiveté – he inherited his job and rarely leaves South River – makes the character complex enough to keep readers engaged.
A Quilting of Scars by Lucy E.M. Black
There is a mystery to uncover situated in the detailed life on the farm during the late 1800s. Black’s flair for writing superb and timely dialogue keeps the reader planted in this time and space.
Looking for Her by Carolyn Marie Souaid
Occasionally you read a book and love it and then you reread it and it is deeper, more architecturally sophisticated, not just an absorbing read, and you love it more and hope it will be on curricula for decades.
A Place of Secrets: A Northern Gothic Mystery by Shane Peacock
A follow-up to As We Forgive Others, A Place of Secrets does well as a stand-alone while honouring the characters and premise of the book that came before it.
A Dark Death by Alice Fitzpatrick
A Dark Death by Alice Fitzpatrick is the second in the Meredith Island Mystery series.
