Service Alert
Website maintenance April 24 10pm ET
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 18 of 18 items
By Maureen Jennings. 2017
November 1917. The Great War is grinding on. Initially, Canadians are mostly eager to fight for the Empire, but the…
carnage is horrendous and with enforced conscription, the enthusiasm for war is dimming. William Murdoch is a widower, a senior detective who, thanks to the new temperance laws, spends his time tracking down bootleggers and tipplers. His wife, Amy, died giving birth to their second child, a girl who lived only a few hours more. Murdoch, racked by grief, withdrew from his four-year-old son Jack, which he deeply regrets. Now, Jack is twenty-one and has returned from France after being wounded. It is soon apparent that he is deeply troubled and bound by shared secrets to another soldier, Percy McKinnon. The night after Jack and McKinnon arrive home, a young man is found beaten to death in the impoverished area of Toronto known as the Ward. Soon after, Murdoch has to deal with a tragic suicide, also a young man. Two more attacks follow in quick succession. The only common denominator is that all of the men were exempted from conscription. Increasingly worried that Jack knows more than he is letting on, Murdoch must solve these crimes before more innocents lose their lives. Sequel to "A journeyman to grief". 2017.By Ria Voros. 2019
Grace Carter's mother, GG, is everything teenage Grace is not. GG is glamorous and breezy, while Grace is a low-key…
dreamer. The two may share a name, but that's where the similarities stop. With nothing much in common, the two hardly speak to each other. Then one day GG is just gone. Cameras descend on their house, news shows speculate about what might have happened, and Grace's family struggles to find a new rhythm as they wait for answers. While the authorities begin to unravel the mystery behind GG's disappearance, Grace finds herself learning secrets from her mother's long-lost past. The more Grace learns, the more she wonders. Did she ever really know her mother? Was GG abducted, or did she leave? And if she left, why? For junior and senior high readers. 2019.By Ian Hamilton. 2018
Hong Kong, 1970. The Dragon Head (also known as the Mountain Master) of the Fanling Triad has died and there…
is a struggle to replace him among senior members of the gang. Normally, the Deputy Mountain Master is next in line, but this one is weak and ineffectual and has only survived because of the protection of the Dragon Head. Up to this point, the Fanling Triad has operated in relative isolation from neighbouring gangs, but the Dragon Head's death has drawn attention to the area - and to its wealth. Other gangs start to make threatening moves and it's obvious to the senior members of the Fanling gang that they need a leader who can fend off the threats, unite the membership, and maintain their prosperity. There are several candidates. The least conspicuous is their White Paper Fan, their young administrator. His name is Chow Tung, but many of those who work with him already refer to him as "Uncle". Followed by "Foresight". 2019.By Martin Michaud. 2020
Tormented, rebellious police detective Victor Lessard races to track down a ruthless killer in Montreal. “Martin Michaud is a master…
at twisty storytelling and compelling atmosphere.” — Catherine McKenzie “Never Forget is a crackerjack read.” — Quill & Quire “A raucous crime thriller.” — Publishers Weekly When a homeless man jumps to his death in Old Montreal, the police discover two wallets in his possession: one belonging to a retired psychiatrist who was murdered in a bizarre ritual, the other to a powerful corporate lawyer who has vanished. As Montreal police detective Victor Lessard and his partner, Jacinthe Taillon, work to solve the separate mysteries, a dark conspiracy begins to emerge. While the pressure builds and the bodies accumulate, disturbing secrets come to light about a pivotal moment in political history. But will Lessard and Taillon crack the case in time to stop the killer from striking again?By Wesley King. 2020
“Readers will appreciate [Sara] as good literary company even as they develop sympathy for her struggles.” —BCCB “It’s the vivid,…
insightful depiction of Sara’s internal struggles that readers will remember.” —Booklist “A must-buy.” —School Library Journal (starred review) In this prequel to the Edgar Award–winning OCDaniel, fan-favorite Sara quests for “normal” and finds something even better along the way.Sara’s Rules to be Normal 1. Stop taking your pills 19. Make a friend 137. Don’t put mayonnaise on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sara wants one thing: to be normal. What she has instead are multiple diagnoses from Dr. Ring. Sara’s constant battle with False Alarm—what she calls panic attacks—and other episodes cause her to isolate herself. She rarely speaks, especially not at school, and so she doesn’t have any friends. But when she starts group therapy she meets someone new. Talkative and outgoing Erin doesn’t believe in “normal,” and Sara finds herself in unfamiliar territory: at the movies, at a birthday party, and with someone to tell about her crush—in short, with a friend. But there’s more to Erin than her cheerful exterior, and Sara begins to wonder if helping Erin will mean sacrificing their friendship.By Maureen Jennings. 2020
Charlotte’s boss at T. Gilmore and Associates takes off on a mysterious trip to Europe, leaving Charlotte in charge of…
the detective agency. Mrs. Jessop hires the newly promoted Private Investigator to inquire into the untimely death of her son, a veteran injured in the Great War. The police ruled it a suicide, but Mrs. Jessop doesn’t agree and wants Charlotte to find out what really happened. Then Charlotte is hired to infiltrate a small women’s wear manufacturer to uncover communist agitators. When the factory supervisor is murdered on the job just as Charlotte starts to look into it, she gets seconded to the police to help find out what happened. The November clouds darken and Charlotte is left to struggle to solve two mysteries at the same time — until they intersect. Add an aging grandfather, an absent boyfriend, and a mad scheme to mount a controversial play at the Paradise Café and Charlotte has her hands full.By Marissa Stapley. 2021
For fans of The Flight Attendant, a compelling and thrilling road-trip novel about a talented grifter named Lucky whose past…
comes back to haunt her. What if you had the winning ticket that would change your life forever, but you couldn't cash it in? Lucky Armstrong is a tough, talented grifter who has just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend, Cary. She's ready to start a brand-new life, with a new identity--when things go sideways. Lucky finds herself alone for the first time, navigating the world without the help of either her father or her boyfriend, the two figures from whom she's learned the art of the scam. When she discovers that a lottery ticket she bought on a whim is worth millions, her elation is tempered by one big problem: cashing in the winning ticket means the police will arrest her for her crimes. She'll go to prison, with no chance to redeem her fortune. As Lucky tries to avoid arrest and make a future for herself, she must confront her past by reconciling with her father; finding her mother, who abandoned her when she just a baby; and coming to terms with the man she thought she loved--whose complicated past is catching up to her, too. This is a novel about truth, personal redemption, and the complexity of being good. It introduces a singularly gifted, complicated character who must learn what it means to be independent and honest...before her luck runs out.By Michael Hutchinson. 2021
The National Assembly of Cree Peoples has gathered together in the Windy Lake First Nation, home to the Mighty Muskrats—cousins…
Chickadee, Atim, Otter, and Sam. But when the treaty bundle, the center of a four-day-long ceremony, is taken, the four mystery-solving cousins set out to catch those responsible and help protect Windy Lake’s reputation!What’s worse, prime suspect Pearl takes off to the city with her older brother and known troublemaker, Eddie. If they have the burgled bundle with them, the Mighty Muskrats fear it may be lost for good. With clues pointing in too many different directions, the cousins need to find and return the missing bundle before the assembly comes to an end. The history and knowledge passed down to each generation through the bundle is at stake.By Meagan Mahoney. 2021
Eleven-year-old Meranda thought her life was complicated enough with physical challenges (she uses crutches to walk) and her helicopter parents.…
But when her great-uncle Mark dies, Meranda and her family visit Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where her parents grew up and where she hasn’t been since the age of three. Soon, secrets begin to unfold: Why does the newspaper headline say her great-uncle Mark’s death was suspicious? Why do strangers keep calling Meranda “miracle baby”? Why does her usually calm mother seem so panicky and scared? And what on earth does all this have to do with mermaids? Meranda and her new friend, Claire, decide to investigate on their own. But as Meranda begins to separate fact from fiction, she finds herself in very real danger.By Kevin Major. 2021
When Sebastian goes undercover in the theatre to find a killer, things get… dramatic. In Three for Trinity, the third…
book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series, offbeat humour meets suspense as a nefarious crime unfolds. Trying to run a tour business in COVID times is tough, especially when you’re home- schooling a teenager. But with the creation of the Atlantic bubble, Sebastian can offer a tour of the scenic, historic Bonavista peninsula to a small group. On the last night of the tour, an actor collapses at a socially distanced theatre performance. Sebastian rushes to help, but Lyle Mercer has been poisoned. When Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, he’s taking a risk in more ways than one. Will it upend his romantic relationship with police inspector Ailsa Bowmore?By Alison Watts, Riku Onda. 2020
Selected by NYT as one of MOST NOTABLE BOOKS of 2020. On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of…
a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician's bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury. But the youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicidethat October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. The police are convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako’ and witness to the discovery of the murders. The truth is revealed through a skilful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.By Wayne Arthurson. 2016
Captain Mueller is dead. Hanged, apparently by his own hand. But ex-police officer and war hero Sergeant August Neumann doesn't…
think it's quite so simple. How could it be with blackshirts, legionnaires, and communist sympathisers vying for control of the camp? Now Sergeant Neumann must navigate these treacherous cliques to find the truth while under the watchful eyes of his Canadian captors.Wayne Arthurson manages to hook you on the first page of this masterful mystery. The Traitors of Camp 133 is historical fiction at its best, a wonderful achievement, and a thoroughly entertaining read.--David Swinson, author of The Second GirlThe Traitors of Camp 133 is a murder mystery that delivers. Wayne Arthurson wraps his mystery in a fascinating subculture: German POWs in a Southern Alberta camp shortly after the Allies invade Normandy. It's a great read.--Todd Babiak, author of Come Barbarians and Son of FranceThe joy of this book is in the meticulously researched details; watching the way Arthurson's August Neumann navigates the peculiar society within the barbed wire (and without) is fascinating stuff, and the solid, satisfying mystery is the cherry on top.--Owen Laukkanen, author of The Watcher in the WallBy Kevin Major. 2022
Murder in a quilt shop on scenic Fogo Island leads sardonic private eye Sebastian Synard from his quest for some…
R&R to a different kind of excursion altogether. Four for Fogo Island finds Sebastian Synard on a May 24th weekend getaway with his new significant other, Mae. (As he says, “what a difference a Mae makes.”) When Sebastian and Mae arrive at a fabric shop, they discover the owner in a back room, lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with a pair of antique quilting scissors. This propels the couple along a sequence of occasionally bizarre investigative paths to track down the killer. Sebastian has more than murder to deal with. A family get-together involving his son and ex-wife (and her partner, Frederick, a police officer) goes awry as Frederick inserts himself into the investigation. Mae on occasion outsmarts Sebastian on the investigative trails, but our private eye is rarely without his trademark sense of humour.By Katie Welch. 2022
With gorgeous descriptions, deft characterizations and a page-turning plot, Mad Honey immerses the reader in a search for truth bounded…
by the everyday magic of beekeeping, of family and of finding peace, all while asking how much we really understand the natural world.By Wesley King. 2022
From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Wesley King comes a tender and grounded middle grade mystery about brothers,…
basketball, and a young boy on the autism spectrum.Eleven-year-old Green loves his devoted older brother, Cedar, a popular basketball star, but that doesn’t mean he wants to follow in his footsteps. He doesn’t really care about sports or making friends. Still, eventually Green caves to pressure to try out for the basketball team. He may be tall like Cedar, but he’s nowhere near as skilled. And when a confrontation with the coach spurs Green to flee the court, his flight coincides with a priceless necklace going missing—making him the number one suspect. To clear Green’s name, the two brothers team up to find the necklace, and along the way, they learn to appreciate their differences…and the things that bring them together.Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel A CBC Bookie Award: Mystery and Thriller, Finalist A Quill…
&Quire Book of the Year An Amazon.ca Editors’ Pick In the first electrifying book of the series, Ian Hamilton introduces us to Ava Lee — the smartest, most stylish heroine in crime fiction since Lisbeth Salandar.By Ian Hamilton. 2022