Beyond Spite

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Winnipeg,
Manitoba.

Staff Sergeant Dan Laurenson, introduced in Tip of the Halo (2001),
returns in Darion’s second mystery set in St. Michael, Alberta.
Laurenson, a divorced, middle-aged father of adult children, commands
the local RCMP detachment and heads an investigation into an alleged
kidnapping/rape. One of the officers finds a disoriented and traumatized
Tiffany, a dormitory student at the local college, wandering on a road
outside of town. When hospital staff confirm that she has been raped,
and a female officer determines that she has been abducted and
imprisoned, the hunt for a suspect ensues.

Laurenson believes that the “well-prepared and skilful” manner in
which the crime was committed points to a serial rapist. Indeed, similar
unsolved kidnapping/rape cases show up in Edmonton, Kamloops, Cranbrook,
and Regina. The chameleon-like rapist has “presented himself
differently to everyone” and “seems to have a knack for determining
what appeals to potential victims and being able to turn it on, whatever
it may be.” The police finally do identify the suspect and close in,
but not before he carries out his warning that Laurenson gets “to
choose the next victim”—someone close to him.

Darion (the pen name of Cherylyn Stacey, the author of young-adult
novels and a television and movie script analyst) details the
step-by-step procedures the police follow as they investigate the case.
She paces the story well and writes realistic, snappy dialogue.
Laurenson is presented as a competent and skilled investigator who
maintains a balance between being the boss and allowing his officers to
take ownership of cases. The identity of the second victim is
telegraphed a little too obviously, and the character development tends
to be stated rather than shown. Still, Beyond Spite is an entertaining
read.