Product Description
The tenth novel in the highly acclaimed Joanne Kilbourn series features the murderous fallout of a tell-all book on the troubled adult children of Canadian celebrities.

When journalist Kathryn Morrissey’s sensational book on the lives of thirteen adult children of prominent Canadians is published, one of the parents, Sam Parker, is furious enough to take a pot shot at the author, grazing her shoulder. Charges are laid, and Joanne’s new beau, Zack Shreve, is hired by Parker as his defence counsel. At the trial, which Joanne is covering for NationTV, Shreve focuses the jury’s attention not onwho shot whom, but on why — on the ethics governing the relationship between a journalist and her subject.

Morrissey’s betrayal of her subjects opens up questions about an even more serious betrayal — the betrayal of children by their parents. While everyone condemns Parker for taking a gun to Morrissey, no one can fault his defence of his only child, Glen, a transsexual. The mutual love and commitment between this father and child stands in stark contrast to the alienation between Howard Dowhaniuk, Saskatchewan’s former premier, and his son, Charlie.

On the day of the verdict, Morrissey is brutally murdered, and Joanne’s investigation quickly has her trying to unravel the endless knot of the relationship between parent and child.

A deeply affecting novel of trust and betrayal, The Endless Knot is a superb mystery by a virtuoso of the genre.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is my lucky day -- I just discovered Gail Bowen!
As an author, editor and voracious reader, I love to discover Canadian writers.The other day I stumbled upon Gail Bowen and began reading her ever so literary mystery, The Endless Knot.I couldn't put it down.The characters were well developed and imminently likable, the plot was complex but not overly so, in that the ending was entirely believable, and I thoroughly enjoyed the background.

Also appreciated Bowen's pop culture references to music and I share her politics and world view.

Altogether, this is a wonderful novel about a man who is accused of murdering a journalist who exploits his child's life and that of other adult children in an exposé piece.It makes us think seriously about the ethics of broadcasting, which are so critical in this era (as I write this two days after the Virginia Tech massacre, the role of the media is
being debated everywhere.How can they balance the public's right to know with the individual's right to privacy?When does reporting stop being informative and begin to sensationalize or worse, play an active role in contributing to a crisis?)

The story is told by Joanne, a divorcee who has just found love again with a cutthroat lawyer who may not share her values.I haven't read the earlier Joanne Kilbourne stories but I just picked up two other pocketbooks in the store this afternoon.

Gail Bowen rocks!
Sigrid Macdonald in Ottawa ... Read more

Product Description
Just hours before her body is found in a car in a parking lot, a young woman hands her baby to a perfect stranger and disappears. The stranger is the daughter of Delia Wainberg, a lawyer in the same firm as Joanne Kilbourn's husband. One close look at the child suggests that there might be a family relationship, and soon the truth about the child Delia gave up for adoption years ago comes out. The boy must be Delia's grandson. Then his mother is found dead, sexually assaulted and murdered. Not only is there a killer on the loose, but the dead woman's partner is demanding custody of the child. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Joanne Kilbourn -- the Jessica Fletcher of Saskatchewan?
Murders seem to find Joanne Kilbourn regardless of what career she's pursuing at the moment. An unlikely detective, she'd rather spend time with her grandchildren or make porridge, but duty calls.

I have mixed feelings about Gale Bowen's latest book, The Nesting Dolls. I've become pickier over the years about the fiction I read and if I am not hooked by page twenty or so, I don't see much reason to continue the book. Since we discovered Gale Bowen's books on a trip to Vancouver years ago, we have hunted down and read every one of her mysteries. The Nesting Dolls kept me reading eagerly to the very end.

On the other hand, I have become less picky about endings. If questions were left unanswered or the main plot points weren't resolved, then I felt my time had been wasted and I would be annoyed with the author. These days though, if a novel keeps me reading to the end, I am willing to overlook a few loose ends.

The appeal of the Bowen books is the political nature of the mysteries, and the Canadian-ness of the stories. The books are aimed at a Canadian audience, so there are no explanations of the Canadian legal system or education system. It's assumed that you are familiar with them. It's a fun way for someone in the US to learn a little about Canada.It's not just big topics like law and politics that are different north of the border- even little things like Timbits and toques and poutine are mysterious at first.

The books have become less political over the years, but they still work somehow. The Nesting Dolls is about a child given up for adoption twenty-seven years ago and what happens when she discovers who her biological parents are. There's a death, apparently a murder, and a ton of questions that can only be answered with some real detective work. Or luck. It seems that Joanne's investigative talent is often just being in the right place at the right time.

I thought I had figured out what the big secret was about halfway through the book, and since I never guess correctly in murder mysteries, I was quite astounded to find I was right. That would be okay - figuring out the end of a murder mystery is not necessarily a spoiler. But there were a couple of unanswered questions at the end and in a strange move, Bowen seemed to try to undo the big twist.

Joanne Kilbourn fans will enjoy catching up with the family and riding shotgun with Joanne on another mystery. New readers might be better off starting the series with an earlier novel, such as Verdict in Blood or A Killing Spring.


... Read more

Product Description
The bestselling Gail Bowen returns with a gripping story of marriage, politics, sex, and murder.

With a general election just weeks away, Joanne Kilbourn is following the campaign of Ginny Monaghan, a woman who has her eyes set on the leadership of the federal Conservative Party and whose success depends, not so much on the election-day poll, but on the outcome of a custody battle she’s fighting with her ex. Joanne thinks this is perfect material for a TV program she’s putting together on women and party politics. Happy to be back in the political fray that used to be her life during her first marriage, Joanne is soon also glad of the distraction it provides. A local call girl has been murdered — a woman whose regular clientele included several of Regina’s most prominent lawyers, including — until he met Joanne — her own husband, Zach Shreve.

Her new marriage creaking under the strain of this revelation, Joanne throws herself into her project — and into finding out why the dead woman had started to threaten her clients with blackmail, an investigation that leads to the truth — and to death.

In The Brutal Heart, Bowen expertly mixes the ingredients of marriage, family, politics, and murder into a constantly surprising and compulsively readable story.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another Winner for Bowen
Gail Bowen, one of Canada's premier crime novelists, adds another gem to the star-studded Joanne Kilbourn series. This time the feisty Saskatchewan reporter from Regina finds herself in the middle of a controversy with a local Conservative MP whose estranged husband has turned up dead at election time. Ginny Monaghan herself is at the centre of innuendos about her recent sexual escapades. The death of a high-priced call girl shocks this prairie city and reveals tangled roots. Who's on her extensive client list? With common sense and uncommon Canadian elan, Joanne juggles both family troubles and a new marriage with high-power lawyer Zack Shreve, a man whose wheelchair is a chariot of power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A new Bowen fan
A friend gave me this book when I was visiting and I had never read any of Ms. Bowen's books. A Killing Spring is a great mystery novel. Even though I picked it up in the middle of the series, I got caught up with things quite quickly. Ms. Bowen is a talented writer and she shows she researches her topics well. Set on a university campus, the death of a professor throws Joanna Kilbourne (a fascinating lead character) into the middle of a mystery. I liked this character. She's a down to earth widowed mom with 3 almost different lives--the life of a professor, a mother, and a woman looking for love. The subplots were enjoyable and revealed more of the main character. This is what I personally like to see in a novel-character growth. I am off now to buy book #1 and start from the beginning (which is a bit hard because The Endless Knot looks really good.) A solid mystery and believable characters make for a great read.

A Great Addition to the Series
The story is so much more than just the events leading up to the solving of the murder and disappearance. There are compelling 'sub-stories' and various surprising events throughout the novel. There are details which give readers insight into politics, university life, racism and abuse. Once again, the main characters are portrayed as extremely likable, which makes it a fun read.

This is a very literate mystery, well written & well plotted
I'm very happy to have discovered this Canadian mystery writer.This mystery is part of a series set in Regina, Saskatchewan.Bowen's "detective" is Joanne Kilbourn, a middle-aged widow who is a political science professor at the Univerity of Regina, and who is raising four children (two at home, two grown).Joanne has an on-again, off-again Ojibway police-detective boyfriend. In the course of the mysteries, you also follow the lives of these characters and their relationships.

The plot involves several strands that more or less come together in the end. THe first involves a very unattractive young student who complains that she is being sexually harassed by a popular good-looking student.The second strand involves a professor who has apparently met an accidental death as the result of some perverse activities.The third strand involves vandalism in the university.The fourth strand involves JOanne's best friend's boyfriend -- a complete jerk.

Bowen is an English professor and not surprisingly, she writes with great skill: her mysteries have depth, her characters are vivid, and the plots are well-constructed.She describes people and places so well that I can imagine myself in the setting and talking to her characters.

All in all, there's plenty to keep the reader interested and turning the pages, and it all comes together satisfactorily in the end.For the reader who likes thoughtful, well-written mysteries (in the manner of Elizabeth George or Deborah Crombie), I highly recommend Gail Bowen in general and this mystery in particular.

a Killing Spring
A Killing Spring is one in a series featuring Joanne Kilbourn, a Canadian college professor, as the amateur sleuth.There is a nice density to these mysteries:the reader is always aware of Joanne's full life--we see her with her children, her friends, as a political woman (her deceased husband was in politics), as well as with students in and out of the classroom.The mystery itself is good and Joanne's investigation of it quite believable--only at the end does she become improbably active.Gail Bowen is a good writer, and the depth of the mystery and Joanne's life gives the book a rich quality; the final scene is lovely. Joanne does have a romantic relationship with a policeman (as do many female amateur detectives).The policeman is a Native Canadian, and the two must deal with prejudice in this book.Joanne feels she has never before experienced prejudice, an astonishing belief, I thought, for a liberal woman. I highly recommend this mystery. ... Read more

Product Description
In this chilling tale of the terrible power of the ties that both bind us and blind us, Gail Bowen has given us her best novel yet. Brimming with the author’s characteristic empathy for the troubled, The Glass Coffin explores the depth of tragedy that a camera’s neutral eye can capture – and cause.

Canada’s favourite sleuth, Joanne Kilbourn, is dismayed to learn who it is that her best friend, Jill Osiowy, is about to marry. Evan MacLeish may be a celebrated documentary filmmaker, but he’s a cold fish who not only has already lost two wives to suicide, but has exploited their lives – and deaths – by making acclaimed films about them. Not even Jill appears to be particularly fond of him, and Jo is appalled to learn that her friend is marrying Evan primarily to become stepmother to his teenaged daughter, Bryn. Even Bryn hates her father for having filmed her all of her short life. It’s obvious to Joanne that this is stony ground on which to found a marriage. What is not obvious is that it is about to get bloodsoaked.

Intelligent, sympathetic, and harder-edged than earlier novels in the Joanne Kilbourn series, The Glass Coffin is the work of a writer at the top of her form.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Canadian in every way
It's always a pleasure to meet up with Canadian sleuth Joanne Kilburn. Complex characters combined with a fast moving plot keep the reader guessing until the last page. Bodies and clues abound as do Canadian icons such as Tim Hortons, CBC Radio and national TV shows. Gail Bowen is one of the few mystery writers who keep getting better.

I AM CANADIAN
Gail Bowen's Joanne Kilbourn mysteries, set in Regina, Saskatchewan are an intense, quick and entertaining read. Joanne's best friend Jill has never made great choices in the romance department, and it seems the trend is continuing when her husband to be has lost his preceeding two wives to suicide.He is a filmmaker who documented their descent into madness and death.When murders mar the wedding, Joanne searches for a way to protect her friend and her new family.
What is enjoyable about this series and this entry in particular is the way in which the drama captures a reader's attention and keeps the pages turning.Following the lives of the Kilbourns, for example the loss Joanne's relationship with Alex Kequahtooway, personalize the characters and make a reader want to "keep up" with them.Catching the nuances may be difficult if you haven't read the prior novels but that wont stop you from enjoying this one if you like your stories concise and compelling.

Gail Bowen Pens Another Winner
Saskatchewan sleuth Joanne Kilbourn was planning on a white Christmas with family, friends, peace on earth and the occasional nip of her favourite scotch.When her best friend Jill Osioway's husband is murdered only hours after their nuptuals, Joanne's holiday turns from white to blood soaked red and she knows there won't be peace on earth until suspicion is lifted from Jill and the murderer is found.
Readers who are fans of Gail Bowen's 7 previous Joanne Kilbourn mysteries know they are in for a heart pounding ride through Regina's snowy streets.Familiar characters are woven into a riveting plot and new players are introduced and given the depth they need to come alive.Bowen intices us with opening paragraphs that are intiguing and obviously only the tip of a ver nasty iceberg.She describes the tragic suicides of two bright young women who were also married to Jill Osioways husband.The thread that linked those two women has now wounds its way into Joanne Kilbournes life.
The Glass Coffin is certainly a dark mystery that delves into the complex bonds between parent and child that transcend generations.All the Joanne Kilbourn mysteries are character driven books that throb with true to life intensity.The author unleashes a parade of dysfunctional adults and a few children that may be a bit unnerving because they may hit close to home.
Jill Osioway's husbandis Evan MacLeish, prince of indie film noir and he's looking for a wider audience via Jillwhen he is slain.Jill inherits Evan's troubled 17 year old daughter Bryn not to mention Bryn's odd aunts Tracey and Claudia who display an unnatural interest in their niece.Evan's last hurrah was a film that followed Bryn's life literally from the moment of her birth and Bryn is not a willing subject.
The Glass Coffin is Bowen's best work yet.She treats the reader to a thinking person's mystery filled with memorable quotes, references to art and literary works and dialogue that far exceeds other novels in its genre with its edgy wit and believability.
The Glass Coffin is a showcase of Gail Bowen's talent for remaining fresh and unpredictable in the world of mystery writing. ... Read more

Product Description
Andy Boychuk is a successful Saskatchewan politician – until one sweltering August afternoon when the party faithful gather at a picnic. All of the key people in Boychuk’s life – family, friends, enemies – are there. Boychuk steps up to the podium to make a speech, takes a sip of water, and drops dead. Joanne Kilbourn, in her début as Canada’s leading amateur sleuth, is soon on the case, delving into Boychuk’s history. What she finds are a Bible college that’s too good to be true, a woman with a horrifying and secret past, and a murderer who’s about to strike again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Interesting debut mystery.
I have no idea where or why I might have picked this book up. I suspect that it was a thrift store find; I get a lot of my cozy mystery fixes from thrift stores. It may well be the first Canadian mystery that I have read (at least the first one that made a point of billing itself as a Canadian mystery).

Deadly Appearances (1990) was the first novel featuring Joanne Kilbourne. Kilbourne is a Saskatchewan based widow/mother and political analyst who has the habit of getting involved in mysteries. Classic cozy territory. In this first book, Kilbourne is nearly paralyzed as murder strikes again in her life-- this time taking her long-time friend and candidate of choice, Andy Boychuck. At first it seems incomprehensible that someone would want to harm Andy, but the more that Joanne digs in the layers of his life, the more tragedy she finds. After a time the question is no longer who would want to kill Andy, but who didn't?

For a thrift store buy, the book had some surprisingly strong bits. Bowen has a good feel for the emotional aftermath of tragedy. Joanne is sometimes nearly tragically real.In general, the character moments were very strong.

Unfortunately, her grasp of plot is less stunning. There are holes that you could drive a truck through in relation to the Villain of the Piece. I found the motivations involved implausible (and that's polite) and the methods employed did violence to credulity.

All in all, interesting. I wouldn't mind reading another.

Interesting Book
This is a fantastic first novel! The plot is excellent and will keep you guessing right up until the end. My favourite aspects of all of Bowen's novels are the characters. They are three-dimensional and very easy to care about, especially Joanne.

There are several sub-plots which deal with her family life which add a nice extra 'layer' to the story. This is definitely not a book to be missed. The novels can be read out of order, but you will get the most out of the characters if you begin with this one and go through the series in chronological order.

Smart
Joanne Kilbourn is a political science professor and widow of a Canadian politician. After the brutal murder of her husband, she struggles to rebuild her life and raise her three children.Part of her healing process includes working on the campaign of her good friend Andy Boychuck, a rising political star.When he is poisoned at a political rally she decides to write a biography about his life and, of course the secrets she uncovers lead her straight to the murderer.Gail Bowen is one of the premier mystery novelists in Canada and her books have a satisfying blend of character development, description of Canadian life and a puzzle. Several of her books have been made into TV movies in Canada.

An otherwise great novel with one major flaw...
Before I begin, I should point out that I have read and loved the entire Jo Anne Kilbourn mystery series, and that this first book is the only one I have any solid troubles with.

Jo Anne Kilbourn is a wonderful character, a woman who can't seem to not get involved when a man she worked with in Canadian Politics is murdered by poison in front of a crowd, herself included.Digging into the past of the politician, however, she unearths that all might not be how it seemed, and soon wonders how many people she can trust that she has trusted her entire adult life.

A character with a solid family, Jo Anne is a bright and interesting widower, and a smart amateur sleuth to boot.On that basis alone, this was a pleasure to read.

The pleasure ends with the villain.I don't want to give the book away, but who the villain is and and the villain's motive for murder set my teeth on edge..... It's tiring, insulting, and done far too often in fiction.

That said, the rest of the book propelled me forward in the Jo Anne Kilbourn series, and I have loved the rest dearly, right up to "Burying Ariel."

Check it out, just get ready to flinch, in a bad way, at the villain.

Deadly Appearances
Bowen's book opens with her protagonist's, Joanne Kilbourne's, second tragic and seemingly senseless loss, this time of her close friend, up-and-coming Regina politician Andy Boychuck. Not long before Joanne lost her husband in an apparently unmotivated violent crime and, therefore, Andy Boychuck's murder by poison hits her hard.To make sense of his death she, as a former political speech writer, decides to write his biography.So she dives into Andy Boychuck's life and uncovers an interesting array of secrets in the lives of their mutual friends, associates and acquaintances.

In the course of her investigations she meets a close friend of Andy's whom she feels an affinity to and whom her children also like.She starts feeling that life might be good after all and that there is a chance for happiness for herself.

But then she gets sick.Repeated visits to doctors cannot determine any physical reasons for her illness and she starts wondering whether she might be going mad.

This is as much as I am going to reveal.Gail Bowen's debut novel is one of the best crime novels ever.It features believable, three-dimensional characters the reader learns to care about.Joanne Kilbourne is the mother-next-door and then she is something rather different because she is capable of seeing a thing she believes in through, no matter what (not that most of us are not).Unlike a hero in a movie,she has her self-doubts and bad moments; when a doctor tells her there is nothing wrong with her physically she assumes - like we all would - it's in her head.But she keeps on doing what she feels necessary.Most of all she is a real person.She has a family and is ensconced in a social network - and Bowen lets us into Joanne's thought processes.

The end is logical - and totally unexpected.

I borrowed Deadly Appearances from my local suburban Australian library in early 1999; since then I have bought all her novels to date and I keep scanning magazines for new ones.My mother-in-law borrowed Deadly Appearances in May 2000; since then she has just requested the next one every single time she's finished one.And if they have been translated into German, they'll make a fantastic present for my mother, my sisters and all of my friends.

And next time I go and visit my sister in Toronto I'll make sure to have a stop-over in Regina to tour Bowen-Country. ... Read more

Product Description
Award-winning mystery writer Gail Bowen’s first three masterful mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Joanne Kilbourn are now collected in a single volume. In Deadly Appearances, a successful politician sips his water before a speech at a picnic on a sweltering August afternoon and, within seconds, he is dead; in Murder at the Mendel, Joanne’s childhood friend may have a far more complicated, far more sordid, and far more deadly past than Joanne knows about; and in The Wandering Soul Murders, a centre for street kids holds a dark and disturbing secret, forcing Joanne to act when her own children are drawn into a web of intrigue that will leave you breathless. ... Read more

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 ofDeath 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

My New Favorite Series
I came across the first Kilbourn mystery by chance and enjoyed it enough that I looked for more by Bowen at a local bookstore.Couldn't find any and finally ordered several at one time from Amazon and read them in order.I love the series--was sad to read the last one I had, and am planning to order the couple I've not read.What do I like about the series?The people involved and their lives are interesting; the mysteries are intriguing; the gore and violence are limited; I enjoy the regional setting; I can identify with the protagonist.

An Exploration of Joanne's Past...
The first time I read "Deadly Appearances," I was struck by the fact that Joanne Kilbourn's husband had died before the series had even begun, and in a random act of violence, no less.It was enough to raise an eyebrow, and now here, in "A Colder Kind of Death," the past comes to haunt Joanne again.

When her husband's killer is himself killed in prison, Joanne Kilbourn picks up her Nancy Drew ways and delves into the life of her husband's life, the lives of his friends, and finds more and more things that don't add up, and secrets that might better remain in the past.As she uncovers a conspiracy that might cast a very dark shadow on who her husband was (and even how solid their marriage was), Joanna is solid in her determination to find out the truth.

As always, Gail Bowen's strength is in her characters.Joanne is a very well-written character, with solid history and plausible emotionality.She is active and intelligent, something you rarely see in an over-forty female character, and moreover, this is done in a believable, important way.

Pick this one up - though it might be best to read the Joanne Kilbourn series in order, starting with "Deadly Appearances."This is definitely one of the best in the series.

'Nathan

A Superior Mystery Story
Written in good, unpretentious prose, this book seems simple at first, but quickly gets the reader involved. The characters are interesting and well developed. The story is interesting and complicated enough to be intriguing. It is very well written and well edited. I prefer the author's style to that of many better known writers.

Quite Refreshing
This was my first time reading this author and I thoroughly enjoyed her.It helps because she writes about the Regina, Saskatchewan area and I actually was born around there.Reading about streets that I had visitedand roads I had travelled was kind of fun.Ms. Bowen is a good mysterywriter.She has a strong story line and here characters are real. Definitely worth a visit. ... Read more

Product Description
This second Gail Bowen omnibus contains her next three masterful mysteries featuring Canada’s favourite amateur sleuth, Joanne Kilbourn. In A Colder Kind of Death, a prisoner is shot to death in the exercise yard of a Saskatchewan penitentiary, and Joanne becomes a suspect when his wife is found strangled; in A Killing Spring, the School of Journalism where Joanne teaches becomes a world of deceit and fear when one of its teachers is found dead in a seedy rooming house; and in Verdict in Blood, Joanne is asked to help solve the case of a tough judge who is found battered to death in a park. ... Read more

Product Description
The ninth novel of Gail Bowen’s popular series finds Canada’s favourite amateur sleuth, Joanne Kilbourn, on holiday at a cottage borrowed from a lawyer friend, one of a cluster of summer homes owned by lawyers from the same prestigious firm. When one of them kills himself the night after a long talk with Joanne, she is pushed into investigating just what her neighbours are involved with, an investigation that has startling – and fatal – consequences.

Bowen’s depiction of this community of lawyers, each in his or her way now divorced from the ideals of justice and mercy that once motivated them all, is both compassionate and hard-nosed. There is Zack, the charming but controlling paraplegic; Blake and Lily, whose daughter, Gracie, struggles to keep her dignity as her parents’ marriage falls apart; Noah, who would rather practise carpentry than the law, and his wife, Delia, who is consumed by worry about the firm. The mounting stress among these lawyers is palpable as Joanne delves into their lives. And Joanne faces her own personal anxieties too when she discovers that her former lover, Inspector Alex Kequahtooway, is mixed up in what seems to be some very sordid legal business.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Solid Kilbourn mysteries continue!
I love the Joanne Kilbourn mystery series for a few major facets:

(1) The heroine is an independant widowed woman with a strong sense of family, and yet is not reduced to being a simpering victim or wailing emotional wreck. She handles things, and handles them as well as any one could.

(2) The strong Canadian content to the stories: be it simple things like surnames that show a european background, or native rights issues, or any number of uniquely Canadian flavours, Bowen finds a niche for them in her books that adds to the story.

(3) The mystery is always a good one, and hard to puzzle out any faster than her heroine.

Joanne retires to a languid summer at "Lawyer's Bay," where one power law firm seems to rool the roost. When a shocking suicide starts the vacation on a dark turn, Joanne once again finds herself in the middle of the lives of those around her, trying to dig out the dark secrets, and learn if the suicide was even that. When her ex-lover Alex Kequahtooway gets involved, things seem even more personal. The tension keeps rising, and as always, Bowen delivers a stunning finale. Well done.

Slow beginning but a powerful finish
This latest in the Joanne Kilbourn series gets off to a very slow beginning. At about 50 pages in, I almost set the novel aside. I had seen movies based on Bowen's previous mysteries and enjoyed them very much. So I was puzzled. But then the pace picked up. The apparent suicide of a lawyer who had confided in Kilbourn the night before is a signal that not all is right in Lawyer's Bay and,in particular,with the members of Falconer Schreve who all have lavish summer homes there. Joanne discovers that a young associate has gone missing from the law firm, supposedly to better job in Vancouver but that is a ruse.

As the plot advances Joanne learns that her former lover,police inspector Alex, is involved with the wife of one of the lawyers and appears to be implicated in a coverup. After a slow start the story races to a shocking finish.

A Fantastic Read!
Gail Bowen has done it again! She somehow manages to write an intriguing mystery plot and sprinkle in wonderfully normal family life elements to make for a comfortable and compelling read. With some authors, the end result would be choppy, but Gail Bowen makes it really work.

Every time I pick up a new book in the series, I feel like I'm visiting old friends who will keep me entertained from start to finish.

Terrific read!
Gail Bowen has done it again! She somehow manages to write an intriguing mystery plot and sprinkle in wonderfully normal family life elements to make for a comfortable and compelling read. With some authors, the end result would be choppy, but Gail Bowen makes it really work. Every time I pick up a new book in the series, I feel like I'm visiting old friends who will keep me entertained from start to finish.

Searing
The mystery novels of Gail Bowen set in Saskatchewanfollow the lives of Joanne Kilbourn and her family.While all entries are enjoyable, this one is particularly enthralling.

After receiving an invitation from her lawyer friend to rent his cabin situated in an area referred to as "Lawyers' Bay" for the summer, Joanne happily packs up her adopted daughter, her son and his girlfriend for what she anticipates will be a restful and relaxing vacation. While celebrating Canada Day, Joanne has a conversation with one of the partners in the "power firm" of Falconer Shreve and learns he is extemely depressed.By the end of the celebration though, he seems in better humor.So it is a shock when he commits suicide later that night.

When she learns that a young female associate appears to have vanished after leaving Falconer Shreve, Joanne's investigation leads to troubling questions.As she is drawn deeper into the investigation, the answers have a devestating affect on those she loves.

As I came to the conclusion of the novel, I said "oh no" out loud.It is a powerful ending to a very well written book.I cannot recommend this novel strongly enough. ... Read more

Product Description
Verdict in Blood is Gail Bowen’s sixth novel featuring Joanne Kilbourn, one of Canada’s most beloved sleuths. Teacher, friend, lover, single mother, and now grandmother, Joanne has a quick intelligence and a boundless compassion, which repeatedly get her into – and out of – trouble.

In Verdict in Blood, Joanne’s good friend Hilda McCourt is visiting her in Regina, Saskatchewan, when Judge Justine Blackwell’s corpse is found sprawled across one of the limestone slabs of the Boy Scout memorial in Wascana Park. Blackwell, known for the harsh sentences she’s handed down over the years, had lately been seeking out people she’d once incarcerated and trying to help them. Had she had a genuine change of heart, or had she been getting senile? Even the fearsome judge herself had wondered. Just the night before her death, she’d asked Hilda to make an assessment of her mental condition.

Now she’s dead, the matter is urgent: Which of her two wills should prevail – the one leaving everything to her daughters, including the famous sixties singer Lucy Blackwell, or the one leaving it all to Culhane House, a halfway house for ex-cons? Whoever stood to lose could be her murderer, and Hilda has to decide. Before too long, Joanne (who has problems enough of her own with her lover, Alex, and his troubled nephew, Eli) finds herself once again embroiled in intrigue. Amazon.com Review
Joanne Kilbourn is a 51-year-old professor of political science,broadcaster, mother, lover, and amateur crime solver based in Regina,Saskatchewan. She's an original and immensely appealing character, totallybelievable in all her roles. In five previous installments, author Gail Bowen has supplied such aconvincing array of details about her family, friends, and the landscapethey inhabit that we slip into Joanne's life as easily as knocking on aneighbor's door.

The plot of this sixth book in the series is also strong on family andfriends: when a tough judge, Justine Blackwell, suddenly softens up after30 years on the bench and supports a prisoners' rights group, attacks fromher three angry daughters make her doubt her own mental competence. JudgeBlackwell turns to an elderly teacher and mentor, Hilda McCourt, foradvice. McCourt is staying with her friend Kilbourn when they both get thenews that Judge Blackwell has been battered to death in a public park. A group of ex-prisoners who had been incarcerated by the judge seem to have reasonsto want Blackwell dead, but so do the Lear-like daughters, especially aformer rock star and a discredited psychiatrist.

In addition to helping McCourt sift through the evidence, and then having to deal with anotherbrutal attack, Joanne is also caught up in the psychological problems ofthe fragile 15-year-old nephew of her policeman lover. In all the turmoil,she still has time to become a grandmother, a scene described with as muchhonest emotion and artistry as the rest of Bowen's engrossing book. OtherKilbourn outings include Deadly Appearances, A Colder Kind of Death, andA Killing Spring. --Dick Adler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Joanne Kilbourn does it again
Verdict in Blood by Gail Bowen McClelland and Stewart 1998

Judge Justine Blackwell is bludgeoned to death after leaving a party celebrating her 30 years on the bench. A call in the middle of the night wakens Joanne Kilbourn to ask that her 83 year-old friend and house guest, Hilda McCourt, identify the body. It turns out that Hilda has been asked by the Judge to decide if sheis becoming senile. Judge McCourt has been spending a lot of time developing a halfway house for released criminals and her three daughters think she is losing it. When a will shows up that leaves the bulk of her fortune to the halfway house, the daughters become very upset. Some very unsavory characters at the halfway are linked to the Judge and come under suspicion. When Hilda is attacked and nearly killed in Joanne's home Joanne begins to put the pieces together and eventually solve the riddle of the Judges death.

The personal life of Joanne continues to be hectic. Her budding romance with Alex Kequahtooway, hits some snags when Alex's nephew Eli, disappears and Joanne's good-intentioned comments about his care raise Alex's hackles. An old lover returns to Saskatoon and wants to rekindle their old flame and throws Joanne into a bit of a tizzy.Joanne becomes a grandmother and her adopted daughter continues to grow in spirit and painting ability.

A good solid read but not as good as "Burying Ariel". After watching two made-for-TV movies of Bowen's previous books just before reading this book I had a little trouble getting my head around Joanne's character again. They are presented quite differently in book and movie.

I want to read all her other books!
I just discovered Gail Bowen when we were doing a mystery program on Canadian and Alaskan mysteries at our local library.Of all the new authors I sampled, Gail Bowen was my favorite!I was instantly struck by how well written A Killing Spring was. Also, I found that not only did I like the character of Joanne Kilbourn, I also cared about her and wanted to go back and read all the previous mysteries in the series to see her character develop.I found all the characters in the book quite engaging and well developed, and also became quite fond of Jo's elderly friend Hilda, whom I hope to meet again in other books in the series.I found the Saskatchewan setting added another appealing element--just a bit exotic to a reader living in California!Jo's romance with an "aboriginal" (Indian) policeman, as well as her relationship with her children and with the troubled nephew of her policeman friend, all add three-dimensionality to her character.Gail Bowen is a great new discovery for me, and I am recommending her to all my mystery-reading friends!I am eager to read all the other books in this series.

A truly wonderful series continues
Gail Bowen has done it again!Political Science professor/sleuth Joanne Kilbourn, in the latest in this excellent series from Canada, has a full plate, indeed.She manages to lead a full life with all its joy anddespair.She's a "real" person; as I mentioned in a review of anearlier work of Bowen's, one of the rewards, for me, in this series iswatching the growth and development of "true" people.Theprotagonist and her family and friends come alive for this reader, and theydon't stay stuck in one time slot book after book.Not at all - They age -Children mature - (If not that, at least they grow up)- A grandchildarrives and so on.Through it all, because of Bowen's very fine writing,we have a novel of three-dimensional characters about whom we care deeplyand I, for one, look forward to meeting them all again.

Bowen is a class act.
Gail Bowen's series featuring Joanne Kilbourn, widow, mother,collgeteacher and political analyst for the radio is one that should be anyonewho likes marvelous writing, interesting, three-dimensional characters andamazing insight into society at the end of the 20th century. Set inSaskatchewan, the books, even when discussing Canadian politics, are veryaccesible to non-Canadians. In this entry, Joanne gets involved in thebrutal murder of a female judge who in the last year of her life has madesome uncharacteristic decisions. Joanne's friend, Hilda McCourt, had beenasked by the judge to determine if she has mental problems. After themurder Hilda stays involved to the point of almost losing her life.Joannecan not stay out of it even though her relationship with a policeman isgoing through a very bad patch. Gail Bowen's books cannot be recommendedhighly enough.

Good work
While patrolling Wascana Park, the Regina Saskatchewan police find themurdered body of Judge Justine Blackwell sprawled across the Boy ScoutMemorial.The victim, renowned for her brutal sentencing, has a note onher person containing the name of Hilda McCourt, a senior citizen visiting Joanne Kilbourne, whose phone number was also on the paper.

Inrecent months Judge Blackwell had begun to act strange. She talked withsome of the individuals she put away behind bars and offered to help them. The Judge was so worried about her mental state, she asked Hilda to assessher mind.The issue soon becomes not who killed the Judge, but which ofher wills is valid.The older document leaves everything to her children. The newer document, recently processed, bestows her estate to a halfwayhouse for former convicts. Joanne begins to investigate the final days ofthe Judge without realizing that she has placed her own life in danger.

The sixth Kilbourn who-done-it is a wonderful mystery that feeds on thecraving and naiveté of individuals.The story line is impressive and thecharacters, especially the octogenarian Hilda, add much depth to an alreadycomplexstoryline.The insiders tour of Regina also provides muchwarmth(in spite of the climate) to a well written regionalamateur sleuth tale. This is a serieswell worth reading.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Product Description
Murder is the last thing on Joanne Kilbourn’s mind on a perfect morning in May. Then the phone rings, and she learns that her daughter Mieka has found the corpse of a young woman in an alley near her store. So begins Joanne’s chilling collision with evil in Gail Bowen’s riveting third mystery, The Wandering Soul Murders.

Joanne is stunned and saddened by the news that the dead woman, at seventeen, was already a veteran of the streets. When, just twenty-four hours later, her son’s girlfriend is found dead, drowned in a lake in Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley, Joanne’s sunny world is shattered. Her excitement about Mieka’s upcoming marriage, her involvement in the biography she is writing, even her pleasure at her return to Regina all fade as she finds herself drawn into a twilight world where money can buy anything and there are always people willing to pay. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful...
Gail Bowen is wonderful at evoking emotion. Even knowing the general plotline, each murder still had me feeling shocked and empathetic towards various characters. The plot is tight and moves along at a good pace. As in all of the other novels in this series, the characters are likeable and very 'human'.

Excitement in Regina!
The Wandering Soul Murders by Gail Bowen M&S Paperback 1992

This is my first Gail Bowen mystery with Joanne Kilbourn. The finding of a dead young girl in a garbage can next to Joanne's daughter's store is followed shortly by the apparent suicide her son's girlfriend (Christy). The two victims had known each other and the police are wondering what they could have known that would lead to their deaths. Joanne is drawn in by her feelings of guilt that she had not been very nice to her potential daughter-in-law. The death of a third young girl with a tattoo identical to one that Christy had, forces Joanne to try and find what is happening. This leads her into some very treacherous waters and her personal safety is threatened. The kidnaping of her five-year-old-adopted daughter, sends her rushing to rescue her daughter and in the end to solve the murders of young women and bring some very despicable people to justice.

The principal characters are well drawn and the family life of the widowed Joanne is very realistic. Joanne and her children are thoroughly modern in their relationships and it will be interesting to see if these relationships continue through the other books in the series.

By and large a good read. ... Read more

Product Description
As a child Joanne was friends with Sally Love and her parents, but the friendship languished after Sally’s father died and she moved away, eventually becoming a very controversial artist. When the Mendel Gallery opens an exhibition of Sally’s work, Joanne is eager to attend and to renew their friendship. But it’s not so easy being Sally’s friend anymore, and soon Joanne finds herself ensnared in a web of intrigue and violence. When the director of a local private gallery is brutally murdered, Joanne finds that the past she and Sally share was far more complicated, and far more sordid, than she had realized. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Forty-something mom solves art community crime!
I chose to read this book because of its Saskatoon setting.It was instantly captivating to read about familiar streets and buildings. The Mendel Art Gallery and Spadina Crescent are signatures of Saskatoon.

Ienjoyed having a forty-something female - especially a working mother - asthe main character and sleuth...makes it seem like us regular folk justcould have excitement in our lives!On top of it all, I learned somethingabout my home town and province....the South Saskatchewan River really doesempty into Lake Winnipeg! ... Read more

Product Description
Sally Love's exhibition at the Mendel Gallery includes a mural depicting the private parts of her past lovers, and when protestors appear in droves, two dead bodies are found, and Sally's childhood friend, Joanne Kilbourn, must investigate the crimes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I must read for mystery lovers and wheat belt residents.
If you are tired of mysteries set in New York, Los Angeles and other well know urban centres, this book is for you.It is set in a fresh, new region: the province of saskatchewan in Canada.Yet it could be North or South dakota, Iowa or Nebraska.It has those characters typical to farm-belt urban areas.Bowen, a professor at the Saskatchewan Indain Federate College of the University of Regina know her setting and is brilliant at character development.She has created a new and interesting dectective in Ms. Kilborn, a political activist and, yes, university professor.Her plot is complexed and will keep you reading and puzzled, until the last few pages.Her major characters are interesting, and the relationships with family and riends refreshing.Try this book, you will want to read all the rest of this series ... Read more

Product Description
Joanne Kilbourn is looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the lake with her children and her new grandchild when murder once more wreaks havoc in Regina, Saskatchewan. A young colleague at the university where Joanne teaches is found stabbed to death in the basement of the library.

Ariel Warren was a popular lecturer among the students and staff, and her violent death shocks – and divides – Regina’s small and fractious academic community. Kevin Coyle, a professor earlier accused of sexual harassment, is convinced the murder is connected to his case, even as Ariel’s long-time lover, Charlie Dowhanuik, a radio talk-show host, seems to point the finger at himself in his on-air comments on the day of the murder.

Aghast at Charlie’s indiscretion, his father, Howard, asks his old friend Joanne for her help. But before Joanne has a chance to start searching for the truth, she is scorched by the white-hot anger of militant feminists on campus when a vigil for the dead woman turns ugly. Instead of a tribute to Ariel’s life, the vigil becomes an angry protest about violence against women. Some of the women there are certain they know who killed Ariel, and they are out for vengeance.

The everyday family problems and joys Joanne Kilbourn experiences as she solves baffling murder cases have endeared her to a growing number of fans, as have the television movies, starring Wendy Crewson as Joanne. The seventh novel in Gail Bowen’s much-loved series, Burying Ariel offers readers an imaginative, compassionate, and, above all, challenging mystery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the best "Joanne Kilbourn" mysteries!
For her creation, and maintenance, of a heroine who is not in the early years of her life, Gail Bowen deserves a lot of credit.Joanne Kilbourn, first introduced to us in "Deadly Appearances" has aged with grace and style by the time we get to "Burying Ariel," and this book shows no sign of her character declining.

Mixing in Joanne's daily life with the sudden stabbing-murder of a loved teacher on campus with ehr usual deft touch, Bowen has definitely left the pattern of every murder being tied so someone in Joanne's past (something that was starting to get a little bit hard to swallow in some of her previous books).This murder is connected to her solely by the place Joanne works, the university, and a respect she had for the deceased.

Tying in radical feminists, student protests, and angry pointed fingers at a man who may have confessed - or merely said the wrong thing at the wrong time - keep the plot humming in this Kilbourn mystery.And as always, it is the depth of character in both villains and hero(ine)s of the book that immerse you totally in what is going on.

Big cheers for Gail Bowen, Canada's Lady of Mystery!

'Nathan

Exciting academic murder mystery
In Regina, Canada, everyone associated with the university is stunned to learn that someone killed twenty-seven year old Professor Ariel Warren. The culprit stabbed the popular political science lecturer in the back.

The police have several suspects from a professor previously accused of sexual harassment to Ariel's boy friend radio star Charlie D. The campus' militant women feel Ariel is the victim of a male animal and use her vigil to further their goals rather than as a memorial to the deceased. Realizing the campus is divided and turning ugly, Professor Joanne Kilbourn who has known Ariel for two decades begins to make her own inquiries not yet realizing where the danger really comes from.

BURYING ARIEL is an exciting academic murder mystery that provides insight into extreme campus politics. Readers will take pleasure from the story line though they will wonder how the vigil turned ugly so quickly. The characters seem genuine especially Joanne, her family, and most of the political science department. Though the killer's motive seems stretched, the audience will find the latest Kilbourn Canadian who-done-it to be a delightful amateur sleuth tale.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Product Description
This play is the story of George and Roger, two young Saskatchewan veterans of the First World War, and the Ontario woman, Adelaide, who nursed them during their convalescence. Adelaide's journey can be read as a coming-of-age story, a coming-of-age not just for one young woman, but also for a generation of young people and for a nation. It is a story about "young people and a young country; about love and friendship; about asking questions and seeking answers, and about celebrating in the midst of darkness." ... Read more

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It will take all of Charlie D's skills to keep this Halloween from being another "Day of the Dead." (20100924) ... Read more

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Someone is killing some of Charlie D's favorite listeners. (20100601) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Crazy Love
"Love You To Death" by Gail Bowen is one of four inaugural titles in the Rapid Reads series from Raven Books, an imprint of Orca Book Publishers.The concept seeks to provide short novels by established authors for those readers who find reading a full-length book does not fit their skills, interests, or schedules.

For fans of the TV sitcom Frazier, the setting of Bowen's novella will have a very familiar ring:Late-night talk-show host Charlie D. tries to offer comfort and support to listeners who are lonely, depressed, alienated, or otherwise psychologically floundering.While Charlie, unlike Frazier, does not have a degree in psychology, he does provide his listeners with a caring heart and referrals to appropriate professionals.Unfortunately, one of Charlie's listeners believes Charlie is in love with her and only she can save him from his soul-sucking fans--by murdering them, one by one.After each death the murderer sends a note to Nova, the producer of Charlie's show.After the third such note, Nova finally gets it and notifies the police who ask for Charlie's help in luring the murderer to the station.

I found the plot pretty far-fetched but I did like both Charlie and Nova, the two main characters, and enjoyed the familiar setting.I also learned a new word, erotomania, "the delusion that someone, usually somebody famous, is secretly in love with you and sending you signals that reveal their love."(Charlie makes this the topic of the show designed to capture the killer.)In between calls from his listeners, Charlie throws out interesting notes on love and plays several songsthat should be familiar to most readers.

While I applaud Orca Books for recognizing that not everyone wants or needs a 250-page story to entertain them, "Love You To Death" will have limited appeal.But for adults just learning to read, this may be the perfect compromise as most offerings for this group are reworked classics like 1984.And for the vacationer or commuter, these longer short stories could be the perfect fit.I just wish the plot had been a little more believable.

(Edited 10/28/2010 to correct typo in opening sentence.)

worthwhile read
love you to death is a short story, quick read.the story captures your attention from page one and keeps you on the edge of your seat thru out the whole book.the main characters, charlie and nova, are very real and believable.even the killer fits the profile. i won't tell you who did it and spoil it. ... Read more

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Word count: 2068. ... Read more