Eyes of a Stalker.

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.

The fifth book in the Shelby Belgarden Mystery series finds the grade 11 student again solving a crime, but this time one in which she becomes the principal victim. In late November, Shelby receives a gift plant bearing an unsigned card and the wording, “You will always be mine.” Shortly after confirming that boyfriend Greg was not the gift’s source, Shelby gets a telephone call in which a whispered voice asserts that Shelby belongs to him “for all time.” Shelby’s parents involving the police, but she continues to be harassed by emails and a letter, with one of the former threatening Greg’s safety. After Greg is injured by a booby-trapped locker, Shelby breaks off their relationship as her way of isolating Greg from further danger. Mounting clues all point to a schoolmate’s being Shelby’s stalker, and, when a security video leads to Eric Green’s arrest, Shelby appears safe. However, with 50 pages to go, savvy mystery fans will recognize that the story is not over, and Sherrard ratchets up the tension as Shelby lets down her guard, only to be kidnapped by the real stalker, another classmate, who entombs Shelby underneath an isolated building, with his plan being their “marriage” followed by murder/suicide. Appropriate to the genre, Sherrard provides numerous suspects while cleverly masking the real perpetrator’s identity. Sherrard also deftly handles Shelby’s means of extricating herself from her grave situation. Though Eyes of a Stalker is a stand-alone read, series fans will recognize passing references to Out of the Ashes and Hiding in Plain Sight. Highly recommended.