THE KILLER WHISKY
The 1918 influenza pandemic strikes Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Great War rages overseas. While her husband fights in Europe, Katharine works in a doctor’s office to support her children and her brother, a wounded veteran. One night their neighbour suddenly takes sick and dies. The attending doctor concludes the man died from influenza, but Katharine suspects someone laced his whisky with a drug that mimics the deadly flu’s symptoms.
Katharine
convinces the police to investigate. Worried about her brother’s involvement
with a suspect, she delves into his secrets and comes to fear he’s connected to
the murder. She grows disturbingly attracted to the investigating detective who
returns her affections. He’s convinced her brother or someone else close to her
is a killer and risks his career to pursue the crime. Katharine must discover
the truth so she can move forward in a world that has changed forever.
Excerpt One:
Katharine’s
fingers slid over the piano keys. Her daughter strummed a toy banjo, and her
son banged pots and pans. They drowned out her brother, John, on the alto
saxophone. “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” blared through the living room. Katharine
turned to the next page of her sheet music. She struck a wrong note then a sour
chord. The song stumbled to a merciful end.
She swivelled
the piano stool to face John. “I haven’t played that since before the war.” She
remembered the merry evening in this room with her husband and their friends.
By the following month, all the men who had been there had enlisted. One had
since died in the mud of Passchendaele.
“With a little
practice, we’ll be playing the dance halls,” John said.
“Really, Uncle
John?” Lillian’s eyes lit up.
“Absolutely.”
John raised his saxophone. “What’s our next tune?”
“Bedtime for
Henry and Lillian,” Katharine said.
“Why?” Henry
bolted up from the floor. “We don’t have school tomorrow.”
“Uncle John
will teach you.”
John smirked at
Henry. “I’m sharpening my ruler for when you misbehave.”
Henry jumped
onto the davenport and clapped his wooden spoon “drumsticks.”
“You go
change,” Katharine told him. “Lillian and I will clean up.”
He pointed the
spoons at his sister. “There’s a Hun. Pow.”
“I’m not a
Hun,” Lillian said. “I’m an Ally.”
“A dirty Hun.
Pow, pow.”
“An Ally.”
Lillian held her banjo to her chest in defence. “Tell him, Mama.”
“We’re all
Allies,” Katharine said. “Canadians.”
“Huns. Pow,
pow.” Henry aimed a spoon at them both.
Lillian
squealed and ducked between the davenport and piano.
“Pow.”
“Stop it,
Henry,” Katharine said, firming up her tone. “If you don’t get into your
nightshirt now, Lillian and I will walk in while you’re getting dressed.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Susan Calder lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the author of five novels published by BWL Publishing Inc. A Deadly Fall, Ten Days in Summer, Winter's Rage and Spring Into Danger are part of her Paula Savard Mystery Series. The books follow the adventures of Paula, a Calgary insurance adjuster who works with the police to solve insurance-related crimes. Susan’s standalone suspense novel, To Catch a Fox takes a troubled Calgary woman to Southern California on a quest to find her missing mother. In December 2024, BWL will release Susan’s first historical novel, A Killer Whisky. The story is set in 1918 Calgary and will be the 12th and final book of the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series. Susan has also published non-fiction articles. Her short stories and poems have won contests and appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/people/Susan-Calder-Author/100063848538688/
7 comments:
We appreciate you featuring A KILLER WHISKY today. Thank you.
Goddess Fish, thank you for organizing my blog tour.
Dawn, thank you for hosting me today. Writers need lifelong readers.
Welcome readers to Dawn's blog. I look forward to reading your comments.
Great cover and the book sounds good.
Thanks Sherry.
I'm looking forward to checking this book out. Thanks for sharing.
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