“I’d rather laugh in bad taste than cry in good taste.”

That’s how Josie Marshall deals with the death of her detective husband, Gabe, found naked outside their home on the beach with a bullet in his brain. Everyone calls it suicide. Josie knows it isn’t . . . but fears it could be. After all, she had provided Gabe with a motive. The clues are so strong that even Josie begins to believe Gabe shot himself. But when a horrific slaying occurs literally at her feet, she knows Gabe was murdered, and her determination to prove it carries her toward dark corners of the beach strip and exposes the darker sides of its residents. Fending off her fears with humour and outrage, she encounters a drug-crazed drifter, an organized-crime boss with romance on his mind, a woman with a murderous past and a pervert who’s been frequenting her garden shed. When a chance remark leads Josie to the astonishing truth of Gabe’s death, her story takes a shocking turn that no one could have seen coming.

Awards & Reviews

“One of Canada’s best Mystery writers.”

– The Globe & Mail

“John Lawrence Reynolds delivers the goods and a sassy heroine pitted against gangsters, perverts and low-life characters in this superb murder mystery that never takes its finger off the trigger.”

– John Farrow, author of ‘River City’ and ‘City of Ice’

“John Lawrence Reynolds has created a micro-universe populated with characters that are real, sometimes tortured and always compelling. This is a great story, told by a great writer.”

– Ian Hamilton, author of ‘The Water Rat of Wancha’

“John Lawrence Reynolds returns to the world of crime fiction with this terrific novel about a woman who refuses to believe that her husband committed suicide. It’s witty, tense and gripping, and features a beautifully realized lead character in the shape of mouthy, stubborn Josie Marshall. The beach strip itself is a delight to wander, a character in itself.”

– Peter Robinson, author of ‘Before the Poison’ and ‘Bad Boy’