A Quilted Heart

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan, and président de la Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

Daniel MacIvor calls this first novel by R.M. Vaughan a
“murder-mystery-ghost-story-romance.” It follows the attempts of a
police detective in Magog, Quebec, to discover how a body found its way
to the bottom of an empty swimming pool on an old family estate in the
middle of winter. The story unfolds through the voices of the three
romantically linked male protagonists, one of whom is already a ghost.
The effect of the shifting perspectives recalls the classic Japanese
tale Rashomon.

Although the book is a page-turner, the telling is sometimes a bit
labored. One can’t help thinking that the author was indulging in some
self-description when he wrote the following: “Like his bottomless
stories, his spirals of sentences looping and tightening the very air,
Samson was at his most effective when replaying telling events over and
over.” A Quilted Heart is guaranteed to send any reader to the
dictionary at least a couple times before the end. Ultimately, the
novel’s rewards far outweigh its challenges.