Book picks similar to
Bay of Blood by A.M. Potter


mystery
canadian
canadian-noir
gifts-from-authors-and-publishers

In a Deep Dark Wood


Tina Pritchard - 2021
    She tells the police exactly what she saw, but their investigation doesn’t seem to make much headway.Fran tries to settle back into a normal life, but is tormented by guilt – was there something she could have done to save the boy? Fran can’t let it go and finds herself drawn to Tyler’s grieving mother, Mel, both finding some strange connection through this shared trauma.Then someone launches a terrifying campaign of intimidation against Fran and her husband, Laurie. Could it be the killers? Are they letting her know she had better be careful what she says? Who she sees? And why is Mel acting so strangely? Does she know more about her son’s death than she is saying?Fran can’t help herself – she needs to know the truth. But when she begins to dig, she uncovers the terrible secret of the deep, dark wood – a secret that will change her life forever.

Longshore Drift


Karen Gillece - 2006
    His mother’s free-living existence, traveling South America with her lover and son, comes to a sudden, brutal end. Two years later, broken from searching for her missing son, Nacio, and desolate at her lover’s departure, Lara returns to her childhood home on the southwest coast of Ireland. As she struggles to come to terms with her loss, Lara once again befriends Christy, her childhood sweetheart, who finds himself increasingly drawn to her bohemian nature. But what starts as an interest in her past grows into an obsession. As Lara tries to piece her life back together, never losing hope for Nacio, Christy begins to fall apart. This is a tale of passion and betrayal, of the consequences of searching for love in all the wrong places, and of a heartbroken mother’s unswerving conviction that her child will be returned to her—even when all hope seems to be gone.

The Girl He Left Behind


Beatrice MacNeil - 2020
    What no one knows is that Willow lost more than her marriage on that shocking day, which is why she remains on her family’s expansive property, in the shadow of Christy’s Mountain, unable to let go of the secret she has kept hidden for more than a decade. Soon after her fortieth birthday, Willow finds out that Graham is returning to town, without his new wife, after years of working as a doctor in New York City. As Willow grapples with her emotions, wondering how she will deal with Graham’s arrival, tragedy strikes again: her dear friend, Kathleen, and her husband, local doctor James Millhouse, are found dead. Willow was the last one to see the couple on the night they died and fears that she may have accidently had a hand in their deaths. Fearing both Graham’s return and her own imminent arrest, Willow holes up in her family home, reflecting on her past and bracing for her uncertain future. The Girl He Left Behind is a moving story about how confronting life’s greatest uncertainties is often the only way forward.

Starting Out In the Afternoon


Jill Frayne - 2002
    She decided to pack up her life and head for the Yukon.Driving alone across the country from her home just north of Toronto, describing the land as it changes from Precambrian Shield to open prairie, Jill finds that solitude in the wilds is not what she expected. She is actively engaged by nature, her moods reflected in the changing landscape and weather. Camping in her tent as she travels, she begins to let go of the world she’s leaving and to enter the realm of the solitary traveller. There are many challenges in store. She has booked a place on a two-week sea-kayaking trip in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia; though she owns a canoe, she has never been in a kayak. As the departure nears, she dreads it. Nor does it work any miracle charm on her, as she is isolated from her fellow travellers; yet the landscape and wild beauty of the old hunt camps gradually affects her. Halfway, as she begins to have energy left at the end of the day’s exertions, she notes: “This is as relaxed as I have ever been, as free from anxious future-thinking as I have ever managed.”From there she heads north, taking ferries up the Inside Passage and using her bicycle and tent to explore the wet, mountainous places along the way. Again, she feels self-conscious when alone in public, but once she strikes out into nature, the wilderness begins to work its magic on her, and she begins to feel a bond with the land and a kind of serenity. Moreover, she comes to realize that this self-reliance is an important step. Many travel narratives involve some kind of inner journey, a seeking of knowledge and of self. Set in the same part of the world, Jonathan Raban’s A Passage to Juneau ended up being “an exploration into the wilderness of the human heart.” Kevin Patterson used his months sailing from Vancouver to Tahiti to consider his life in The Water in Between, while the Bhutanese landscape worked a profound transformation on Jamie Zeppa in Beyond the Sky and the Earth. In This Cold Heaven, Gretel Ehrlich chose not to put herself into the story, but described the landscape with a similar hunger and intensity, while Sharon Butala has written deeply and personally about her physical and spiritual connection with the prairies in The Perfection of the Morning and other work.In Starting Out in the Afternoon, Frayne struggles to come to terms with her vulnerabilities and begins to find peace. In beautifully spare but potent language, she delivers an inspiring, contemplative memoir of the middle passage of a woman’s life and an eloquent meditation on the solace of living close to the wild land. Eventually what has begun as a three-month trip becomes a personal journey of several years, during which she is on the move and testing herself in the wilderness. She conquers her fears and begins a new relationship with nature, exuberant at becoming a competent outdoorswoman. “Despite a late start I expect to spend the rest of my life dashing off the highway, pursuing this know-how, plumbing the outdoors side of life.”

No Cry For Help


Grant McKenzie - 2010
    No reason. No ransom. No cry for help.Bus driver Wallace Carver fears the worst when his family fails to meet him at the Bellingham, Washington mall. His anxiety is justifiably heightened when security cameras unexplainably show that he crossed the Peace Arch border alone. Now all Wallace wants to do is get his wife and sons back. But first he has to work out why they were taken and by whom.“Think Harlan Coben on speed with a heart breaking compassion that will literally have you biting your nails." - Ken Bruen, best-selling author.“A terrific little-guy-in-big-trouble thriller.” - Lee Child, #1 NY Time bestselling author

The Death Certificate: A genealogy meets metal-detecting mystery


Stephen Molyneux - 2019
    What he discovers is shocking and tragic. He starts to feel a connection for their paths had crossed – literally – albeit with a gap of about 150 years but crossed they had. Combining his interest in genealogy and metal-detecting, Peter forms a theory about a link between a scandal in the antiquities world of Victorian London and what may have occurred on the farm. Follow the story as modern-day events play their part.

Fast Track to Glory (Nina Monte Mystery #1)


Tomasz Chrusciel - 2016
    A mystical object has been discovered in a 15th-century galley, buried at the bottom of Lake Garda in Italy. At the recovery site, Monte makes a shocking revelation—the relic in her hands holds the power to change humanity’s perception of existence.But Monte soon finds herself trapped in an insidious intrigue, and is forced to abandon everything she knows and trusts. Joined by local hotelier, Alessandro Pini, she is determined to unravel the truth surrounding the discovery.A heart-stopping race to decode the four-thousand-year-old mystery leads Monte and Pini from Italy through the mighty Austrian Alps, right to the banks of the most sacred river in India. But the professor and her friend are not the only ones seeking answers, and it will take courage and cunning to outwit those who believe the truth is worth dying—or killing—for.

Bad Sons


Oliver Tidy - 2014
    He is expecting to spend time helping his aunt and uncle pack up the stock of their second-hand bookshop in preparation for a happy retirement. He arrives in Dymchurch on a miserable April night to find his relatives missing without word or clue regarding their whereabouts. As events unravel, the attitude of the local police pushes David into searching for answers to the questions surrounding his family’s disappearance. To get them he will look death in the face and owe his life twice over to a woman he hardly knows… Some Amazon comments on the Romney and Marsh Files: “As with the others in the series the author sets a good pace with interesting character elements and a plot which keeps you interested throughout.” “This is the third book of the Romney and Marsh series I have read or should I say devoured in less than a week.” “Excellent book. I hope this is not the last book in the Romney and Marsh series that Mr Tidy writes. Really enjoyed all three books.” Some comments on the Acer Sansom novels: “I raced from the first Acer Sansom novel 'Dirty Business' to ‘Loose Ends’ and most certainly have not been disappointed.” “Having rated Dirty Business as his best yet only yesterday, I then picked up this title. All I can say is I have been completely blown away.” “I have just finished reading Dirty Business and Loose End and they are the two best books I have read recently.”

The Real Retirement: Why You Could Be Better Off Than You Think, and How to Make That Happen


Frederick Vettese - 2012
    This reassuring book debunks the generally-accepted claims about necessary savings rates, which can cause paranoia among those beginning to contemplate retirement. The authors offer greater insight into planning approaches that are not widely understood, demystifies retirement targets (age, savings, income), and outlines concrete approaches to maximizing retirement savings.Offers practical advice for dealing with the changes to Canada's retirement system Includes advice for calculating your Neutral Retirement Income Target Contains solid financial advice in accessible language Written by the Executive Chairman and Chief Actuary of Morneau Shepell Canada's national actuarial consulting firm The Real Retirement offers a down-to-earth guide for preparing for comfortable retirement and shows what it takes to achieve it.

Calling the Shots: Ups, Downs and Rebounds – My Life in the Great Game of Hockey


Kelly Hrudey - 2017
    Kelly made seventy-three saves (to this day an NHL record for most saves made in a playoff game) against the Capitals before Pat LaFontaine scored the winner in the fourth overtime period of Game Seven at two o’clock in the morning. Later that year, Kelly was in the Canada Cup lineup of one of the most talented teams ever assembled on ice. In 1989, he joined Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley on a team that took Los Angeles by storm: the Kings went all the way to the Stanley Cup final against the Canadiens in 1993. Hrudey is now a well-respected hockey analyst and broadcaster and has watched with a keen eye as the game continues to evolve. Through it all, he has seen greatness and missed opportunities, inspiring moments and outright craziness. Working with bestselling author Kirstie McLellan Day, Kelly delivers a lively and thoughtful memoir, rich in behind-the-scenes anecdotes, humour and insight.

Almost Criminal


E.R. Brown - 1988
    He’s developed strains of B.C. Bud to please the most sophisticated palates and produce any desired effect, from a light contemplative buzz to the most mind-warping stone. His medical varieties offer relief for conditions ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's disease. Come legalization, he'll be the first on the market with marijuana's answer to single-malt Scotch. Until that day, he runs a tight operation with terrorist-cell security. Tate MacLane is brilliant, miserable, and broke. Since graduating from high school at age 14, he's failed at university, failed to support his family, failed at everything except making a superb caffe latte. Randle wants a fresh face to front his transactions. Tate desperately needs a mentor and yearns for respect. And money ... Then there are the bikers, the muscle with the cross-border connections that Randle needs to bring his product to the American market. Soon Tate finds out that it's harder to get out of the business than to get in.

All Saints: Stories


K.D. Miller - 2014
    Effortlessly written and candidly observed, All Saints is a moving collection of tremendous skill, whose intersecting stories illuminate the tenacity and vulnerability of modern-day believers.Praise for All Saints"Fictional places have been mostly secular of late: the home, the bar, the workplace. Standing at the centre of K.D. Miller's touching and intimate collection of linked stories is, unfashionably, a church. All Saints is not just the setting for the habits and rituals of this motley group—parishioners, priest, passersby—but the central image that gives these stories their poignancy. As obsolescence threatens the church, it also puts in peril the connections each character has to others at the very time the world so badly needs human connections. All Saints is a moving and soulful book."—Caroline Adderson

Hyena Road


Paul Gross - 2015
    Three men stand at the intersection of modern warfare – a murky world of fluid morality where all is not as it seems. Thrown together are Pete, a veteran ISAF intelligence officer, Ryan, a Canadian sniper, and The Ghost, a legendary mujahedeen warrior who has mysterious reappeared. Three different men, three different worlds, three different wars. Driving the high-stakes political and military gamesmanship between them is the danger-filled construction of Hyena Road, an 18-kilometre stretch of concrete through Panjwaii that international military leaders call “a dagger in the heart of the Taliban.” Hyena Road is an action-packed story of on-the-ground combat, impossible choices and the personal costs of war.

The Metaxy Project


Layton Green - 2014
    . . Rising above a hardscrabble childhood to become a star at one of Atlanta’s most prestigious law firms, Derek Miller is reliving The Great Gatsby in his own backyard. The spell is broken, however, when Derek’s investigation into the death of his mentor, a prominent psychologist, runs afoul of a mysterious government project involving research into psychic phenomena. As Derek digs deeper, convinced his mentor was murdered, he is plunged into a rabbit hole of government experiments, clandestine figures, and supposed paranormal events. His investigation also puts him at odds with shadowy forces deep within the corridors of power -- including those on the top floor of his own law firm. With his career in shambles, a warrant out for his arrest, and his life in jeopardy, Derek is running out of time to unravel the secrets surrounding his mentor’s research. And if he fails, it’s not just his own life that will be at risk, but the lives of those he holds most dear. From a theoretical physicist to a clairvoyant housewife to the charismatic pastor of a mega-church, from lavish Southern mansions to desperate urban wasteland, Derek’s investigation turns into a race for survival that hinges on one thing alone: finding, and stopping, the most powerful psychic the world has ever seen.

The Life Of Margaret Laurence


James King - 1997
    The magnificent and long-awaited biography of the beloved writer who gave us the Manawaka novels, including The Diviners and The Stone Angel.