Product Description

When a prisoner is shot to death in the exercise yard of a Saskatchewan penitentiary, Joanne Kilbourn finds herself haunted by a part of her past she wished had never happened. The dead prisoner is Kevin Tarpley, the man who six years earlier had brutally killed her politician husband, Ian, in a seemingly senseless act alongside the TransCanada Highway.

The haunting takes on a more menacing cast several days later when Tarpley’s sinister wife, Maureen, is discovered dead in a snow-swept Regina parking lot. A brightly coloured scarf is found wound tightly around her neck, a scarf that belongs to none other than Joanne Kilbourn. Soon this single mother, author, university professor, and TV-show panelist is deemed the “number one” suspect in Maureen Tarpley’s demise.

Joanne knows there has to be a connection between these two murders. But what is it? A cryptic letter sent to Joanne by Kevin Tarpley just days before his death intimates that Ian Kilbourn’s killing may not have been as senseless as first assumed. In fact, there are hints that some of Ian’s political colleagues may have been involved. But how deeply and in what way?

Then there’s the faded photograph of a pretty young woman and her baby that Joanne finds tucked in the wallet of her dead husband. Does it offer any clue to Ian’s murder, or to the deaths of the Tarpleys? Warily, Joanne Kilbourn is forced to follow a tangled trail deep into a heartbreaking past she never knew existed.

A Colder Kind of Death is the fourth novel featuring Gail Bowen’s “reluctant sleuth,” Joanne Kilbourn. With its deft mix of wry humour and mayhem, closely observed family scenes and gripping suspense, warm characterization and betrayal, it confirms Gail Bowen’s stature as one of the greats of mystery fiction.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223705 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-02
• Released on: 1995-09-02
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 7.00" h x .52" w x 4.25" l, .27 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 232 pages

Amazon.ca
A Colder Kind of Death introduces Gail Bowen's amateur detective Joanne Kilbourn in a most inventive and intriguing murder mystery debut. Fortysomething Joanne, single mom and university professor, still hasn't quite come to terms with the murder of her husband when politician Andy Boychuk, a family friend and one of her husband's closest colleagues, is murdered at a picnic celebrating his election as leader of his party. Even though there seem to be few other suspects, Kilbourn is determined to clear Boychuk's wife, Eve, on whom all suspicions seem to be falling. But Joanne discovers that there are hidden secrets in Andy and Eve's past that someone doesn't want revealed, even if it means killing again.

In Joanne Kilbourn, Bowen has created an engaging amateur detective whose personal life as a working single mother is as intriguing as the mysteries she becomes embroiled in. Bowen adds to the mix a strong sense of life on the Canadian Prairies, the complexities of urban life and work, and often uneasy connections with a vibrant Native community. Readers who find themselves intrigued by Joanne Kilbourn will want to investigate other books in the series, including Verdict in Blood, A Killing Spring, and The Wandering Soul Murders. --Jeffrey Canton

Review
“The fourth and positively best novel in the Joanne Kilbourn series.…A terrific story with a slick twist at the end.”
–Globe and Mail

“A delightful blend of vicious murder, domestic interactions, and political infighting that is guaranteed to entertain.”
–Quill & Quire

“A classic Bowen, engrossing and finally, believable.”
–Mystery Review

“A denouement filled with enough curves to satisfy any mystery fan.”
–Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

Ingram
The author of The Wandering Soul Murders returns with reluctant sleuth Joanne Kilbourn investigating her husband's murder, becoming a suspect in another murder, and facing the possibility that her husband had a child she did not know about.