In this eagerly awaited new novel from Canada’s king of crime, Detective John Cardinal faces his most personal case yet.

For years, John Cardinal’s wife, Catherine, has battled severe depression. People are saddened when she finally takes her own life, but they are not really surprised. Cardinal, of course, is devastated. Despite the suicide note in Catherine’s own handwriting and the coroner’s finding that there is no evidence of foul play, Cardinal cannot bring himself to believe that Catherine has really killed herself.

When hateful notes about his wife’s death begin to arrive in the mail, he begins to suspect murder – perhaps revenge from one of the many criminals he has put away over the years. But because the police have not opened a case, he is forced to investigate on his own. Even his longtime colleague Lise Delorme can’t help
him – she’s wrapped up in a nasty case of her own.

Cardinal enlists the help of Catherine’s psychiatrist to help him figure out who is behind the notes. And as he investigates further, he uncovers an alarming rash of suicides in Algonquin Bay – far more than would seem natural for such a small city. Is it possible that they are, in fact, murders?

“I’m acting, Cardinal thought. I’m acting like a man having a conversation. This is how it’s done: you listen, you nod, you ask a question or two, but I’m not here. I’m not even alive. I’m as gone as the World Trade Center. Catherine is dead. My heart is ground zero.”
–From By the Time You Read This


From the Hardcover edition.