Truth

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Jen, 17, with her boyfriend, Jerome, had attended a party at Ian
Klassen’s home on a November Saturday night in the small B.C. mountain
valley community of Fairfield. Ian’s parents were away. During the
evening, a scream brought the group upstairs, where a badly beaten body
was seen on the parents’ bedroom floor. Although an ambulance was
called, the man, Ted Granville, died from massive head injuries. Who
among the party-goers killed the 40-year-old Granville, a Klassen family
friend? Granville had been asked by Ian’s parents to “keep an eye on
the house.” The motive for his killing becomes the focus of this
tightly written hi-lo mystery.

Jen’s involvement in solving the murder increases when, as her
school’s lead reporter, she is asked to do a special feature on the
murder investigation for the school’s weekly TV show, which airs on
the local cable station. After her cameraman, Scott Rich, 16, receives
injuries from a beating requiring hospitalization, Jen finds a note in
her locker that reads “Silence is the best policy.” From information
given to her by the police, Jen believes she knows the identity of one
of Granville’s two attackers: party organizer Ross Reed. But because
Jerome has been acting so strangely, Jen fears that he could be the
second culprit. With “evidence” provided by Scott’s video camera,
Jen is able to identify the second killer, but not before being menaced
by a knife-wielding Ross. Recommended.