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Inspector Michael Green, father of a two-year-old son and a teenage daughter (by a previous marriage) is in the midst of kitchen renovations being done by a typical contractor (one who takes a job, makes a mess, and then disappears only to reappear in his own good time). So he's happy to go along with Sgt Brian Sullivan to Ashford Landing, 30 km out of the center of Ottawa but part of greater Ottawa, to inspect the site where a derelict has apparently fallen from the tower of an abandoned church. Hannah Green, who has recently moved back with her father and his second family, is a typical teenager with many body piercings and problems. She is attending school in a special program in Ashford Landing, where she studies for half a day and works for the other half. Her work is as a school aide. Kyle McMartin, a special needs high school student, is one of her charges. He likes shiny things and Hannah's piercings are filled with shiny things, so Kyle really responds to efforts by Hannah. The dead man, who appears to be a person who has not been living rough for long, may have committed suicide. But there is something in the way the body is lying that Green things is strange, so he digs further. The retired pastor of the closed church suggests that the dead man may be one of the Pettigrews, the family who once lived where the McMartins do now. But which Pettigrew is it and why did he die? Green digs, and uses Hannah to help with Kyle, until he brings the crime back 20 years, and discovers a family that makes his look normal. The Pettigrew parents, religious fundamentalists, created problems among their children, and these problems have led to the death near the church. Fradkin is a Canadian writer and president of the Crime Writers of Canada. As with most of the writers from the north, she does not get a wide enough distribution or enough credit for her work. This is the fourth in the series. It's the first I've read but it won't be the last.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, November 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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