Red Ice for a Shroud

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Abbotsford, B.C.

In the second Meg Harris novel, Harlick returns readers to the West
Quebec countryside she knows well. Meg and her crew face rifle-toting
Papa Gagnon, who refuses them access to his property. This ends their
“chopping, sawing, clipping and hauling,” in preparation for the 65K
Migiskan Ski Marathon trail, a money-making scheme of Eric Odjik, chief
of Migiskan Reserve and Meg’s current lover. Meg’s $20,000
investment appears in jeopardy; however, money proves to be the least of
her concerns when her volunteers start dropping, Gagnon’s daughter,
Yvette, lies seriously injured at the bottom of a cliff; Chantal, the
femme fatale volunteer, is brutally stabbed to death; Pierre disappears,
then also turns up dead; and John-Joe becomes the number-one suspect in
Chantal’s death.

Meg, convinced of John-Joe’s innocence, decides to investigate
because she knows her Sыreté du Québec nemesis, LaFramboises, will
not exert much effort to help a First Nations suspect. Her investigation
turns up a callous drug dealer supplying heroin-laced marijuana to young
reserve members, the same substance found at the first murder scene. But
it’s only when events climax in a tragic finale that Meg discovers the
destructive background of the Gagnon family.

The first-person narrative allows Harlick to highlight the
bone-chilling temperatures, snow, and isolation characteristic of a west
Quebec winter in an area where French Canadians, English Canadians, and
First Nations live side by side, but not always harmoniously. Distrust
among the groups abounds, exacerbated by racial prejudice and police
brutality. An appealing protagonist, varied and interesting secondary
characters, a well-paced plot, and a satisfactory conclusion combine in
a successful mystery.