The famous are descending on the town of Happy Rock. This time, the stars are not of the screen but of the page. The Happy Rock bookstore, I Only Read Murder, is hosting not only an author festival but a murder mystery festival, with six of the biggest names in crime fiction.

New bookstore majority co-owner and former TV star Miranda Abbott loves nothing more than the idea of hosting literary luminaries. Little does she realize the authors are bringing their egos, their professional jealousies, and their personal grudges along with their books. And they all want the first look at a mysterious posthumous manuscript that has been delivered to the bookstore. This festival of rivals goes from bad to worse when one of the authors turns up dead in a locked room with no windows. And this death is just the beginning — no one knows which author will be next.

Miranda is on the case, along with Edgar, her almost–ex-husband; Andrew, her one-person entourage; Ned, the patient police chief; and the good people of Happy Rock. Together, they'll stop at nothing to solve three murders, in three locked rooms, and three impossible crimes.

(From HarperCollins Canada)

Killer on the First Page is available in July 2025.

Will Ferguson has written humour, travel books and fiction. The Calgary-based writer won the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his thriller 419. He has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour three times: for his novel Generica (now titled Happiness), his Canadian travel book Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw and his travel memoir Beyond Belfast.

Ian Ferguson is a Victoria-based writer and creative director in the film and television industry. Ferguson won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour three times, including for HappinessTM and for Village of the Small Houses. He is the co-author, with his brother, Will Ferguson, of I Only Read Murder, Mystery in the Title and How to Be a Canadian, which was shortlisted for the Leacock Medal and won the CBA Libris Award for nonfiction.