Murder in the Glen

Michael Nolan is a professor of English at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland.

In Bob Leroux’s first novel, Big Charlie Beslisle returns to his
hometown Priestmill, in eastern Ontario, to investigate his cousin’s
murder. After a 30-year self-exile, he finds a town changed both
physically and psychologically. Priestmill is now colder, modernized,
and corrupt. No one seems concerned about his cousin’s death, possibly
because of his homosexuality. Conveniently, Charlie’s old friends are
now the mayor, police chief, and (his ex-wife) town doctor. These
characters both help and hinder his inquiries into the doings of the
local drug dealers and the local priest.

The writing is competent, though neither language nor characterization
escapes the expected. One primary difficulty with the novel is that the
mystery is not mysterious: the motives and villains are plain.
Charlie’s methods of detection (intimidation and beatings) fit this
obviousness. The solution to the novel’s rants about the injustices of
the world seems to be vigilante justice.

Murder in the Glen is a passable book for those who like their
politics—and their mysteries—kept simple.