mystery

Beat the Cold with Still Waters

With the temperature siting at -17 Celsius here in Toronto and no relief in sight ’till Saturday and an Arctic blast striking much of the American Midwest with temperatures dipping down to -40 Celsius, what better way to escape the cold that has decended upon us then finding a comfy chair by a roaring fireplace and opening a good book. One such book is John Moss’ Still Waters, an engrossing page-turning mystery à la Reginald Hill.  But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Eric McMillan of the Town Crier had to say about this mystery featuring new detective duo Miranda Quin and David Morgan.

“Still Waters is both an assured debut in the mystery category and offbeat in the charming way only a newbie can be … This is the kind of mystery in which the detectives themselves are intimately involved with the crime, to the point of placing their own lives in jeopardy. Now I know this sounds like another case of literary flourishes and subplots distracting from the good, clean fun of solving gruesome homicides. Yet it works really well. At first, the cops seem hopelessly self-obsessed and unreal as they swap prolonged personal cracks over dead bodies, but eventually you get drawn into their lives in a way that makes solving the crime even more vital. If anything, Moss’s character-driving writing in Still Waters reminds me of the involving work of the British writer Reginald Hill in the famed Dalziel and Pascoe series. Sure, it’s not quite realistic: do we think modern police officers are intimately connected with all their cases? No, but it makes for entracing fiction … I really want to know what hot water Quin and Morgan get into on their next case.”

Tags: John Moss, mystery, review, Still Waters

About the author

Erin is a publicist for Dundurn Press. She reads a wide variety of books (maybe even too many!) and wields a vast amount of positively optimistic power over what should and shouldn't be done in the universe.