The Emily Carr Mystery

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Seventeen-year-old Liz Austen has come to Victoria, B.C., for the
wedding of her slightly older best friend Tiffany to Paris de Mornay,
22. The engaged couple occupy “the exclusive world of the
ultra-wealthy,” and Paris favors daredevil stunts with his
turbo-charged diesel cruiser. Paris’s 20-year-old brother Hart, who
completes the foursome, likes hiking and windsurfing. Liz, who has
studied martial arts and painting, is clearly impressed. Eric Wilson
sets a broad and exotic base for his mystery-cum-love story.

The settings are the beautiful city of Victoria and an ancient mansion
called Thirteen Oaks, home to Paris’s family. The high-octane mystery
starts briskly with a smuggler’s attack on the young people’s
cruiser, one that forces them to swim to shore. The story moves into
high gear when a man from Outlaw, the smuggler’s boat, steals a
priceless Emily Carr painting from the de Mornay residence.

The Emily Carr Mystery is a clever mix of romance and adventure with an
exciting plot and fairly credible characters. Recommended.