Saturday, February 13, 2016

Cold Girl: A B.C. Blues Crime Novel by RM Greenaway

There's a missing girl.  She's a singer with a band, is the band's leader's girlfriend, and all they find is her empty pickup with a barrette and her phone on the ground outside the pickup.  Did the Pickup Killer get her?

Dundurn and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 28th.

The story is set in upper British Columbia with snow and ice out in force.  They can't find the girl or her body.  After a certain length of time, they realize she's most likely dead.  However, there is chance she could be alive.  The Pickup Killer, who was in another area, had kept the girls alive longer and longer in the three murders he's done.  Maybe he's got her hidden somewhere.  As black as it is, it is a form of hope.

The cops are interesting mix.  There's local woman cop that runs the force in that town.  The Pickup Killer's head investigative man is prickly and short on patience.  He also doesn't like their temporary help, a man who seems very slow and stupid.  Dion doesn't tell him about spending time in a coma and trying to train his brain to work right again.  He doesn't even admit he was part of the RCMP before.  He pretends he's a new hire.  

My favorite character is the woman.  She's smart, determined, and she cares about the people in her community.  She also knows almost everyone but she lets them investigate without prejudice.  I din't think much of "Big City" cop, the investigator.  He's too anxious to break the case and doesn't care who he steps on while trying to end it.  Dion is odd.  He's not only damaged from his accident and the coma, he's not sure where he wants to go in life and love.

Then they get four people confessing to the murder.  It only took one to do it.  Who was it?  They still don't find the body.  When they do, it's a real shocker.

This story is complex.  Everyone is lying in some way, there's personality dysfunctions everywhere, and when you find out who the "Cold Girl" is, it's very ironic.

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