Murder Among the Pines

by John Lawrence Reynolds

Overview

Small-town police chief Maxine "Max" Benson is just settling into her new life when her ex appears on the scene. Apparently, he and his new young lover just happen to be visiting her area on holiday. Max left her marriage and the Toronto police to become chief in Port Ainslie, where she runs a three-person department with few problems and enjoys a different pace of life. That's all about to change when Max's ex-husband is accused of killing his young lover right in Max's own backyard. It seems that only Max's superior detection abilities can save him from an almost certain conviction.

This is the third book in the Maxine Benson mystery series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459818194
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	03/13/2018
Series:	Maxine Benson Mystery , #3
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	4.75(w) x 7.25(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

John Lawrence Reynolds has had many works of fiction and nonfiction published. His work has earned several awards, including two Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Mystery Novel, a National Business Book Award, and a CBC Bookie Award. His bestselling book Shadow People, tracing the development and influence of secret societies through history, was published in fourteen countries and twelve languages. He is also the author of the Maxine Benson Mystery series. He lives in Burlington, Ontario, with his wife, Judy. For more information, visit www.wryter.ca.

Editorial Reviews

"Plucky Maxine Benson is an engaging and triumphant character. I welcome even more of these Maxine Benson Mysteries. Highly Recommended."

CM Magazine

2017-12-24
A former Toronto police officer finds herself trying to exonerate her ex-husband of a murder charge.Maxine Benson is the police chief of the resort town of Port Ainslie, where the rare major crimes that crop up are usually handled by the Ontario Provincial Police. Spotting her ex-husband, James Herbert Benson, with an attractive and much younger woman, she is soon being introduced to giggly Lana Jewel Laverne Parker and finds a bit of the green-eyed monster emerging. That all ends when Lana is found floating in the lake outside the resort hotel where she and James are staying, beaten and missing a large diamond Max had noticed hanging on a chain around her neck. Max calls in the OPP, who promptly arrest James. He claims that Lana received a phone call and left their room around midnight and that though he looked for her he didn't find her and finally went back to bed. Sgt. Gregory Stanton is rude and condescending and so sure that he has his man that he doesn't look beyond the obvious. Max may have no reason to love her ex, but she doesn't see him as a killer. Stanton's not interested in the alternative possibility she comes up with, so it's up to her and her little team to produce some proof.Although there's not much mystery here, Reynolds (Murder Below Zero, 2017, etc.) does provide a neat primer on how to solve a crime in double-quick time.

Kirkus Review