Wednesday 4 January 2017

Book ~ "Cold Mourning" (2014) Brenda Chapman

From Goodreads ~ When murder stalks a family over Christmas, Kala Stonechild trusts her intuition to get results.

It’s a week before Christmas when wealthy businessman Tom Underwood disappears into thin air - with more than enough people wanting him dead.

New police recruit Kala Stonechild, who has left her northern Ontario detachment to join a specialized Ottawa crime unit, is tasked with returning Underwood home in time for the holidays. Stonechild, who is from a First Nations reserve, is a lone wolf who is used to surviving on her wits. Her new boss, Detective Jacques Rouleau, has his hands full controlling her, his team and an investigation that keeps threatening to go off track.

Old betrayals and complicated family relationships brutally collide when love turns to hate and murder stalks a family. 

Kala Stonechild is a police officer working in Northern Ontario.  To put some space between her and an ex-boyfriend, she takes a job in a specialized crime unit in Ottawa.  On her first day, she becomes part of the team that is investigating the disappearance of a local businessman, Tom Underwood.  When he is found dead, left to grieve are his young wife, his two adult children, his son-in-law, his ex-wife and his business partner.  Is one of them a murderer or was it random?

Kala's boss, Jacques Rouleau, knows his team has been set up to fail so is pushing them to solve this murder.  They also have two other cases on the go, though ... a missing homeless woman and a man who is assaulting women.  With a shortage of staff and all this happening over the Christmas holidays, the pressure is on.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked that it happened in Ontario.  I've been to downtown Ottawa a few times so kind of knew some of the areas that were referred to.  I liked the writing style and thought it moved at a good pace.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus on the various characters wherever the action was happening.

I liked the main characters, Kala and Jacques.  Kala is used to working alone on a small police force and it's an adjustment for her to have to work as a team.  Jacques sounds like a fair and caring boss.  He has just received some devastating personal news that he is trying to deal with.

It is the first in the Stonechild and Rouleau series and I look forward to reading the others.

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