Found: A Body

Edith Fowke is a professor emeritus at York University and author of the
recently published Canadian Folklore: Perspectives on Canadian Culture.

In this above-average mystery—poet Betsy Struthers’s first
novel—the author’s poetic skills are evident. Her descriptions are
particularly effective. The graphic backgrounds create a vivid
atmosphere for the action and Struthers uses skilful details to make the
characters come alive.

The story, set in a small town, begins with bookstore clerk Rosalie
Cairns discovering a body beside the river; it is naked except for fancy
red shoes, which stick in Rosalie’s mind. At first thought to be a
suicide, the death is soon revealed as a murder. When more murders
follow, paranoia engulfs the village. Rosalie begins to suspect that the
bookstore where she works is the centre of some kind of intrigue. When
the evidence points to Rosalie’s husband as the main suspect, she
becomes involved in the case, and the killer retaliates.

This well-told crime story is also a skilfully developed study of life
in a small town and the reaction of its inhabitants to horrible events.
The plot is neatly interwoven with the Cairnses’ personal lives. The
ending leaves the reader wondering about their future.