Little Boy Blues

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at both Trent University and the
University of Waterloo.

The third entry in Mary Jane Maffini’s amateur-detective series is set
in Ottawa during the July Bluesfest and in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Camilla
MacPhee, who runs Justice for Victims in Ottawa, a law office
specializing in helping victims of violent crimes, is looking forward to
the departure of her annoying but popular office assistant, Alvin
Ferguson, for a new job. Her first day without him is interrupted by an
urgent call from his sister in Sydney to say that Alvin’s younger
brother Jimmy has vanished on Canada Day in Sydney. Finding Alvin,
MacPhee and Mrs. Parnell, her neighbour, drive him home to Sydney and
take up the search for Jimmy.

Little Boy Blues starts out as a missing person case, but MacPhee
eventually links Jimmy’s disappearance to a series of hit-and-run
murders. The race is on to find Jimmy before the killer does, and the
trail leads back to Ottawa and the Bluesfest. Suspense rises as they
find Jimmy, only to lose him again when an attempt is made on his life.

Maffini belongs to a new generation of cozy whodunit writers who blend
a light plot with a colourful mix of characters, humour, and a fast
pace. It is an easy enjoyable read for the bedside, the cottage, or the
beach.

Readers familiar with either setting will enjoy the local references to
the chip stand and boardwalk in Sydney or the Bluesfest in Ottawa. Fans
of the first two books might be initially disappointed that MacPhee’s
father and sisters are in Scotland, but the new cast of characters are
amusing and entertaining.

Maffini is a lapsed librarian, former co-owner of an Ottawa mystery
bookstore, current president of Crime Writers of Canada, and a member of
the Ladies’ Killing Circle. Like many of her characters, she is a
native of Nova Scotia now living in Ottawa.