LARGE TYPE · FICTION
Roger Ormerod
THE CAR WAS a boxy late-model Ford sedan, white over black, innocuous bordering on invisible, and very fast.
— from Shame the Devil, 2000
Most acclaimed
Double take
It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around her-tourists, seals on a barge-and for a moment enjoys the sheer normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end. Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant, Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation. Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble-last seen in Point Blank-still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished hree years earlier. His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross. With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise, Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers-and their lives.
Face Value
With three days left until he retires, Detective Inspector Richard Patton doesn't want any more big cases. Amelia Trowbridge reports her husband missing, and his car is soon discovered. A burned out car in a ravine should be the perfect way to while away his last days in the force. After all, there isn't even any proof of a crime. But strange things begin to turn up. A threatening message written on the window of convicted rapist Clive Kendall, recently released from prison. A sinister bearded doll hanging from the branches outside. When a mutilated body is found in a remote cottage, DI Patton knows his last days of work will be anything but dull. Who is the dead man? And where is the missing husband of Amelia Trowbridge, owner of the burned out car? Will DI Patton discover the truth behind the hanging doll murder? from Goodreads
Seeing Red
Alex is dying to know why Arie's hair is so red. So he asks him if there if there is a secret to it all, or better yet, something he can do to turn his own black hair red? Soon he's following Arie's good advice and consuming daily doses of tomatoes and ketchup. But when he finds himself drinking hot sauce to, you know, set the colour, Alex starts to suspect that he's being played -- and concocts a little plan to turn the tables on Arie's trick, by tempting him with his own recipe for turning red hair black! Based on a boy named Arie from Montreal, whom Robert Munsch met while on a storytelling tour, Seeing Red celebrates the spirit of good-natured pranks with some over-the-top antics and hilarious imagery, while providing a gentle lesson about accepting who you are and what you've been given.