Deadly Appearances

Gail Bowen

Image | BOOK COVER: Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen

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. (From McClelland & Stewart)

From the book

For the first seconds after Andy's body slumped onto the searing metal of the truck bed, it seemed as if we were all encircled by a spell that froze us in the terrible moment of his fall. Suspended in time, the political people standing behind the stage, hands wrapped around plastic glasses of warm beer, kept talking politics. Craig and Julie Evanson, the perfect political couple, safely out of public view, were drinking wine coolers from bottles. Andy's family and friends, awkward at finding themselves so publicly in the place of honour, kept sitting, small smiles in place, on the folding chairs that lined the back of the stage. The people out front kept looking expectantly at the empty space behind the podium. Waiting. Waiting.

From Deadly Appearances ©1990. Published by McClelland & Stewart.