Castle Street Mysteries S.
2 total works
Lucy Trimble Brenner, middle-aged part-time librarian, has sought refuge from a crumbling marriage by establishing a bed-and-breakfast in the sleepy northern Ontario town of Longborough. When a distant relative suddenly bequeaths her his ailing Toronto detective agency, Lucy soon enough finds reasons to suspect that David Trimble's death, despite appearances, may not have been natural or accidental at all. Throwing caution aside, she begins to investigate Trimble's operations and comes into contact with the raffish world of horse racing and its fringe characters, some quaint, others sinister. When finally brought to light, Trimble's journals prove to be part fact, part fiction, and it becomes progressively more difficult to determine whether or not their hints of danger are false or all too real. Meanwhile, to earn a living Lucy takes on as her first client a man who wants her to tail his agoraphobic wife on her occasional mysterious forays into Toronto's nightlife. And seasoned investigator Jack Brighton hires her to locate the missing legatee to a handsome fortune left him by his English mother, a case that leads to a squalid rural farmhouse and a fifty-year-old mystery. Wry and disarming, Death of a Sunday Writer is the story of Lucy's surprising self-discovery in the real world. As unusual events force her to question her basic assumptions, she moves toward a denouement that manages to turn all expectations totally upside down. In the end, Lucy Trimble Brenner emerges as one of Eric Wright's most engaging characters.
Charlie Slater is sixty -- the age limit for active police work. Lately, he's been a glorified receptionist for the deputy chief. But then a Toronto lawyer is murdered, and the prime suspect is a prostitute in a pair of silver boots. The case doesn't ignite any interest until high-powered lawyer Calvin Gregson shows up, supposedly on Flora's behalf, insisting the police solve the case quietly. Deputy Mackenzie figures the assignment will keep Salter temporarily occupied, and puts him on the case with a young Scotsman new to the force and city. Salter is thrilled. As he searches, he meets the law profession's elite and, among others, the victim's sister, MPP Flora Lucas. But it's the lawyer's book group that brings Salter the clues he needs to solve the case -- and to discover why Gregson is so eager to wrap the case up quickly and quietly.