Hollis Grant Mystery

4 primary works • 5 total works

Cut Off His Tale

by Joan Boswell

Published 1 January 2005

The starter's gun explodes, and Hollis Grant excitedly begins her very first marathon race, only to stumble almost immediately over a body lying in the road, the body of the Reverend Paul Robertson, her soon - to - be ex - husband. When the crush of runners passes and the medics arrive, it becomes clear that the Reverend has not collapsed from the rigours of the race, but has been brutally stabbed. Although Hollis has emotionally distanced herself from her husband some time ago, her challenge now - before the police make her, as the estranged wife, the prime suspect - is to find out who, among his many detractors, would hate the Reverend enough to stick a knife in his back. Could it be a parishioner at his church who dislikes his activist stance towards gay marriage? Could it be one troubled soul among the many who have sought his psychological counselling and then found themselves laid bare in the Reverend's latest book? Or could it be the angry husband of one of the church ladies whom the charming Reverend has bedded? As Hollis and Detective Rhona Simpson probe the secretive life of Paul Robertson, they discover multiple motives for hatred and murder.
As the murderer comes after Hollis herself, the solution to his murder takes on the urgency of life and death.

Cut to the Quick

by Joan Boswell

Published 1 May 2007

In the sequel to Cut Off his Tale, Hollis Grant is back, but this time shes in Toronto, hoping for a quiet summer of study. Hollis is a painter, and she hopes to spend some time taking a course in painting at the College of Art from her best friends husband, Curt Hartman. But the murder of her friends secretive stepson puts paid to those plans as the friend teeters on the edge of hysteria. She needs support and begs Hollis to move in with the family. Hollis discovers that all is not as it seems. Was the stepson the real target or is it his brother or his father, famous artist, and Holliss instructor, Curt Hartman? It appears that both father and son have led clandestine lives. Would someone kill them because of their secrets? Hollis poses those questions to Rhona Simpson, the Toronto homicide detective whom Hollis last encountered in Ottawa. It soon becomes clear to both women that the crime is the work of a cold - blooded murderer who intends to strike again. Terror mounts at the Hartmans. Arson, a bomb, a sabotaged sailboatthe killer is closing in. Who will be the next victim? Hollis and Rhona race along parallel tracks to solve the case.

Cut to the Chase

by Joan Boswell

Published 1 January 2009

Danson Lafleur's been on a crusade to investigate deported criminals who return undetected to Canada, and now he's missing. Can he be the unidentified man in the morgue? Danson's desperate sister pleads with artist and amateur sleuth Hollis Grant to search for her brother, since the police don't appear to be taking his disappearance seriously. Leads seem to connect Danson and Gregory, his mystery flat - mate, to drugs. But who is Gregory, and what is his connection to the Russian mob? As Hollis investigates, she clashes with homicide detective Rhona Simpson, a woman annoyed by amateur sleuths in general and Hollis Grant in particular. Rhona, adjusting to a new, attractive, enigmatic partner, wants Hollis off the case. Toronto in November is as cold as Danson's trail. Will Hollis connect the dots before the body count rises?

Cut to the Bone

by Joan Boswell

Published 1 January 2012

Murders and disappearances in one building ... but are they connected?

Hollis Grant has fashioned a new life for herself with a foster child and a job as resident super of an eight-storey apartment building with a split personality. Hollis finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when a tenant, a woman working for an escort agency, is murdered. The detective in charge is Rhona Simpson, with whom Hollis has crossed swords in the past. Rhona, deeply shaken by a report on racial and sexual violence against Native girls and women, is wrestling with an identity crisis as she comes to terms with her own Native heritage.

Hollis's life is further complicated by the disappearance of Mary, a First Nations tenant who leaves a niece behind and a message asking Hollis to care for her. Hollis gives herself 24 hours to locate Mary, but her search for the woman places her in grave danger. Will Hollis end up as yet another victim?

Hollis Grant Mysteries 4-Book Bundle

by Joan Boswell

Published 16 September 2013