Includes "Cold Wave" by Marcelle Dubé, winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Short Story.

Western Canada. A vast and varied land of hidden coastal islands and inlets, towering icy mountains, wind-tossed ranges and wheat fields, and cold lakes that keep their secrets. These are its stories.

In "The Potluck Brigade," visit a dying Alberta town and a senior citizen trying to cope with murder as well as her own failing mind. The police procedural "Local Intelligence" follows a young RCMP constable in an isolated coastal town facing a most unusual collection of flotsam. In "Salty Dog Blues," the crew and passengers on a west coast cruise ship confront a mystery involving a verrry annoying little passenger. In the Yukon, "Cold Wave" forces a lone cross-country skier to choose between personal safety and saving her friends.

"News on the Buckhorn" brings us to British Columbia ranch country in a taut suspense tale of a timid young girl dealing with the mutilation of her show horse. Visit the prairies early in the Great War when a North West Mounted Police officer investigates an unlamented death in "Autumn is a Time for Dying." An Okanagan bed and breakfast owner takes the stage in the rollicking "A Midwinter Night's Scream" to solve a tinsel-draped celebrity death. Finally, in "Pickled to Death," a small BC town's annual Pickle Festival descends into chaos for a peck of unusual characters following the untimely demise of a pickle aficionado.

From thrilling to wistful to laugh-out-loud funny, these short stories draw the reader into a Canadian West where maple meets murder.

Authors in this volume:

KL Abrahamson

JE Barnard

Alice Bienia

Marcelle Dubé

Debra Henry

Winona Kent

Charlotte Morganti

Merrilee Robson

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