Joanne Kilbourn Mystery

On a Saturday bright with harbingers of spring, Joanne Kilbourn-Shreve, her husband, Zack, and their family prepare to celebrate the season. Joanne's life is full, and at 60, she has been given the chance to understand a part of her history that for years was shrouded in secrecy. Living Skies is producing Sisters and Strangers, a six-part TV series about the tangled relationships between the families of Douglas Ellard, the father who raised Joanne, and Desmond Love, her biological father. Joanne is working on the script with Roy Brodnitz, a brilliant writer and friend. The project's future seems assured, but before the script is completed, Brodnitz disappears while scouting locations in northern Saskatchewan. Hours later, he's found - sweat-drenched, clawing at the ground, and muttering gibberish. He dies in a state of mortal terror. Heartsick and perplexed, Joanne resolves to learn what happened in the last hours of Roy's life. What Joanne discovers threatens Brodnitz's legacy, and the decision about whether or not to reveal the truth is hers to make. The Unlocking Season is another deeply satisfying and thought-provoking novel from one of Canada's finest crime writers. The nineteenth installment in the Joanne Kilbourn series. Jo is co-writing a screenplay for a made-in-Saskatchewan movie when a mysterious death puts the project in jeopardy. Gail Bowen is an author, playwright, and teacher. Among her numerous writing awards are a lifetime achievement award from the Crime Writers of Canada and the Distinguished Canadian Award from the University of Regina. Reader's Digest has called her Canada's best mystery novelist. In 2018, she was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and the Grand Master Award of Crime Writers of Canada. She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, with her husband, Ted. Sisters and Strangers was about Douglas Ellard, the father who raised me, and his lifelong friend, the artist Desmond Love, who was my biological father. Telling their story fully and honestly mattered to me, and I had been working with the writer, Roy Brodnitz, on the script. At sixty, the chance to understand and accept a part of my life that until a year earlier had been shrouded in secrecy was a gift, and the chance to be involved in a process that meant stepping into a new world was seductive, but after a promising start, things fell apart. I led Georgie into the living room. "The kitchen windows are open, and I've put out dishes of vinegar, so we'll be able to breathe soon. I'll let my family know you and I are talking." When I returned, Georgie was sitting in an easy chair by the window that overlooked the creek behind our house. Her scrubbed, blond good looks, fine, precise features and cleanly marked jawline suggested a woman with a sunny, uncomplicated view of life, but Georgie's grey eyes were knowing, and her lips had a way of curling in private amusement at the vagaries of human behaviour. My grandmother would have said that Georgie Shepherd "was nobody's fool," and my grandmother would have been right. Our forsythia had just bloomed. The bush's gold, bell-shaped flowers were a welcome burst of colour in the grey late winter palette, and Georgie had half turned to gaze at them. "That forsythia is glorious," she said. "A harbinger of spring," I said. "And a good omen." "Let's hope," she said, "because there's troubling news. You know that Roy flew up north with the production team to scout locations for Sisters and Strangers." "I talked to Roy yesterday," I said. "They'd just arrived on the island at Emma Lake where Ernest Lindner had his studio. Roy was ecstatic. One hundred and eighteen acres of virgin forest and a log cabin c

A dark secret threatens the future of the Shreve family It's August 24 and Joanne Shreve and her husband, Zack, are savoring the last lazy days of summer and looking forward to the birth of a new grandchild; involvement in the campaign of Ali Janvier, a gifted politician with a solid chance of becoming the province's next premier; and the debut of Sisters and Strangers, the six-part series Joanne co-wrote that focuses on her early life. The series is the flagship of a new slate of programming, and MediaNation is counting on a big return. Joanne and Zack's stake in the series's success is personal. Their daughter, Taylor, is in a relationship with one of the show's stars, and Vale Frazier is already like family to them. It seems the "season of mist and mellow fruitfulness" will be a bountiful one for the Shreves. But when, a charismatic young woman wearing a grief amulet that contains a lock of her dead brother's hair and a dark secret becomes part of their lives, the success of Sisters and Strangers and the future of Taylor and Vale's relationship are jeopardized, and only Joanne and Zack can put an end to the threat. When a charismatic young woman wearing a grief amulet enters the lives of Joanne and Zack Shreve, she brings with her a dark secret and the determination to destroy everything in her way.

When Libby Hogarth, the go-to lawyer for the rich or famous who have committed heinous crimes, comes to Regina to deliver the prestigious Mellohawk Lecture, she is met with a torrent of hostility and misinformation. Libby Hogarth had successfully defended Jared Delio, a wildly popular national radio host, against charges of sexual abuse brought against him by three Regina women. Her no-holds-barred cross-examination of the women stirred up a rage that still smolders. Zack and Joanne Shreve's commitment to protect Libby goes beyond the fact that in defending Delio, Libby had simply applied the principles at the root of the justice system. Zack and Libby share a history. They were the last two students to article with Fred C. Harney, a brilliant alcoholic lawyer who changed both their lives. Sawyer MacLeish, Libby's associate, was like a much-loved third son to Joanne when he was growing up, and she fears that Sawyer will suffer collateral damage from any attack on Libby. Joanne's fears are not groundless, and when the inevitable happens, Joanne, Zack, and their extended family must pick up the pieces. Joanne, Zack, and their extended family must pick up the pieces when her family friend is under attack.

When Joanne Shreve's former student, Val Masluk, writes the biography of acclaimed novelist, Steven Brooks, Val once again becomes part of Joanne's life. The biography is already raising troubling questions about Brooks's past, and the wedding of Brooks's daughter, Joanne's son, is scheduled the day before the biography is published. Both Joanne and her former student are haunted by memories of the seminar that led to the deaths of two people and the murder conviction of a third. The publication of the Brooks biography poses a threat not only to the future of the man and woman about to be married, but also to the futures of those who love them. Joanne is certain that the threat is rooted in either her past or in that of Steven Brooks. The collateral damage caused by exposing that link will bring pain to both families, but life has taught Joanne that the only thing worse than knowing is not knowing. There's a new threat, and Joanne is sure it is rooted in either her past or the past of her old acquaintance Steven Brooks. The collateral damage caused by exposing the link will bring pain to both families, but life has taught Joanne that the only thing worse than knowing is not knowing.

Amateur sleuth Joanne Shreve finds herself caught in the middle when her friend Vera Wang, the owner of a discreet escort service, The Right Woman, calls in a favor. Howard Dowhanuik, another long-time friend of Joanne's and the former premier of Saskatchewan, has been a loyal client for years. That is until he started badgering Vera's employees, trying to discourage them from performing their "meaningless" work. Given his recent verbal attacks against any and all opponents on his podcast, Joanne knows his erratic behavior must be part of a larger issue. Can Joanne talk Howard down and make him see sense before he goes too far? To complicate matters, the release of scandalous photos with threatening demands targets both Howard and Calista Wallace. Having quit the escort service, Calista is now engaged to Noah Wainberg, a close member of Joanne's inner circle, but the past could put their future together in jeopardy. Is this hate mail from a heartbroken ex-client or a disgruntled listener of Howard's podcast? Or worse, could the culprit be someone closer to home? With her loved ones' happiness - and their very lives - at stake, Joanne races to find the source of the mysterious messages before they make good on their menacing ultimatum. In Gail Bowen's 23rd novel, scandalous photos with threatening demands begin to appear targeting Joanne Shreve's friends. She must race to find the source of the mysterious messages before they make good on their menacing ultimatum. Gail Bowen's Joanne Kilbourn Shreve mysteries have entertained a generation of readers. She has been acclaimed as the "queen of Canadian crime fiction" (Winnipeg Free Press). An author, playwright, and teacher, she has received numerous writing awards, including a lifetime achievement award from the Crime Writers of Canada. She lives in Regina, SK, with her husband, Ted. Sales and Market Bullets • FAN FAVORITE: Dedicated readers have been returning to Joanne Kilbourn Shreve's life for more than 20 books (over 32 years!). In 2018, Gail Bowen was one of the six recipients of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the prince's highest award for a civilian. • AWARD-WINNING SERIES: Bowen has won or been nominated for most major crime awards in the country, including the Crime Writers of Canada Award (formerly the Arthur Ellis), and each book in the series is met with enthusiasm by critics and readers. In 2008, Reader's Digest named Bowen Canada's Best Mystery Novelist, and she received the Derrick Murdoch Award from the Crime Writers of Canada in 2009. In 2018, she was recognized with the Crime Writers of Canada's Grand Master Award. • BESTSELLING SERIES: The Unlocking Season (ECW, 2020), An Image in the Lake (ECW, 2021), What's Past Is Prologue (ECW, 2022), and The Legacy (ECW, 2023) were all national bestsellers. The Solitary Friend will likely be the penultimate book of the series.