From Amazon
Marc Edwards, a baby-faced ensign in the British Army, is slowly becoming accustomed to the coarse manners and rude politics of his backwater posting--Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada. His life in the New World is an uneventful one, until he is summoned by Lieutenant Governor John Colborne and sent to a tiny hamlet on the shore of Lake Ontario to investigate the death of Colborne's personal spy. Edwards rides off to Crawford's Corners, where he finds himself entangled in the fervent political debates of his day--and the attentions of the loveliest of the local women.
This is the premise of Turncoat, the first mystery novel by poet Don Gutteridge. His early poetry collections, such as Riel and Borderlands, dealt with some of the more colourful episodes in Canadian history, and in his mysteries he treats the past as much more than just another colourful backdrop for a killing. Turncoat is a whodunit, but not a thriller--Gutteridge does little to develop suspense or an atmosphere of menace, but he works hard to obscure his characters' crimes in a swarm of historical disputes and technicalities. With a few exceptions, Gutteridge's characters behave like good Canadians: they're consistently nice to each other, even when they're being accused of cold-blooded murder. As a result, Turncoat is interesting, but not gripping. It will provide Canadian history buffs with hours of fun, but will leave anyone looking for a good page-turner thirsty for something more intense. --Jack Illingworth
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“What a discovery! This witty combination of mystery and history is enormous fun. Don Gutteridge has a poet’s way with language and a novelist’s way with plot and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour that kept me turning pages.”
–Isabel Huggan
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
