Two eccentric old women, two notebooks from years ago, attempted blackmail, murder make for a fascinating case for RCMP Sergeant Alberg. Well written and characterized. I want to seek out the author's other books. ( )

Another great L. R. Wright mystery. This isn't so much a whodunit as a whydunit and willshebecaught.

As for all of Wright's books, this one is set on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg is the head of the small Sechelt RCMP detachment. Alberg is divorced but dating the local librarian who has just returned from England. Zoe lives in a secluded house by herself just outside of Sechelt with no telephone service and that's just the way she likes it. Ramona has a house she and her husband shared but which she has lived in alone since his death. Now, however, her memory is starting to go and her doctor has persuaded her to live at the hospital which is Sechelt's answer to a personal care home. Enter Zoe's brother from Vancouver. He wants money from Zoe in return for which he will give her the scribblers that she kept as a child which contain some secret that would send Zoe to jail if it became public.

Zoe decides that the only way to resolve the problem is to kill her brother. Her plan is to visit him at his Vancouver home, get him drunk and then push him off a cliff. However, she gives in to the temptation to push him down her basement steps when he visits her and then she has to explain his death. Meanwhile, Ramona has left the hospital and she is hiding out. These two investigations converge. Alberg is heading up the investigation into the brother's death but he has trouble keeping his mind on it because Zoe is very attractive. Finally he sees the truth of her character which is psychopathic. ( )

didn't like this one that much. not enough mystery? no likeable characters? tiresome, too long story? ( )

#3 in the series with RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg. Very tense, suspenseful, with touches of humour and compassion. Very good. ( )