Deadly Appearances

Author: Gail Bowen
Publication Date: 17 May 2011
Publisher: Mcclelland & Stewart

ON A HOT AUGUST AFTERNOON a picnic is being held to celebrate the election of Andy Boychuk as leader of Saskatchewan's Official Opposition. All of the key people in Boychuk's life—family, friends, enemies—have gathered. About to begin his speech, Boychuk takes a sip of water from a glass on the lectern. Within seconds he is dead.

Joanne Kilbourn, Boychuk's speechwriter, is stunned, but she is no stranger to sudden death—her own husband was brutally murdered several years before. While trying to help Boychuk's widow through the trauma, Joanne delves into his past, and unexpectedly enters a world of concealed passions and sexual intrigue. When someone tries to stop her, Joanne, an almost typical middle-aged woman, sets off to solve the case—her first on the way to becoming Canada's pre-eminent reluctant sleuth.