In the First Early Days of My Death

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster, B.C.

At the beginning of this delightful short novel, we meet Wendy Li, who
happens to be dead. As she floats over the city of Winnipeg, Wendy
assumes that she was murdered by her husband’s ex-girlfriend. What
follows is Wendy’s account of her life, interspersed with the stories
of the people she has left behind: her unheeding husband, his
clairvoyant mother and superstitious sister, the obsessed ex-girlfriend,
and the unfocused cop who is supposed to be finding Wendy’s attacker.

Although we already know the end of Wendy’s story, we await the
details that led up to it with anticipation. Particularly satisfying is
the significant role played by superstition, religion, and the occult in
the novel, as Hunter’s well-developed characters struggle to impose
order on their chaotic lives.