Winter of Secrets

Book excerpt: 2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada "Delaney glides between scenes with ease. She uses a bare-bones style, without literary flash, to achieve artistry as sturdy and restrained as a Shaker chair."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review Siblings Wendy and Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and their friends have come to the peaceful mountain town of Trafalgar, B.C. to enjoy a two-week vacation of skiing, drinking, drugs, and sex. But tragedy strikes when two of the group crash through the ice into the frozen river. It's Christmas Eve and the snowstorm of the decade has settled over the town. Constables Molly Smith and Dave Evans are busy attending to fender-benders, tumbling pedestrians, and Christmas tree fires. Then, at the stroke of midnight, they are summoned to the scene of an accident: a car has gone off the snowy road into the river. Police, coroner, and medics all agree it was an accident. But when the autopsy reveals a shocking secret, Molly and Sergeant John Winters are plunged into a world of sexual predators, recreational drugs, privilege, and high-living. Meanwhile, stalker Charlie Bassing is out of jail and looking for revenge, a handsome Mountie is giving Molly the eye, and her mother, Lucky, is cheerfully interfering in the investigation. And all Molly wants to do is ski the powder....