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Shop nowBurden of Memory
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Learn moreElaine Benson, a successful novelist who let love in the person of an unreliable screenwriter jettison her career, is now divorced, broke, and on her way to a so-called primitive, untamed northern forest on Canada's Lake Muskoka to interview for a job. Elderly Miss Moira Madison of the fabulously rich Canadian family wishes to write her memoirs. Miss Madison isn't interested in a bestseller; she wants to leave a record of her life and, most specifically, of her years with the Canadian Army Nursing Sisters of World War II. Her service in Britain and the European theater was filled with triumphs and bitter losses and forever shaped her life. Settling into the family "cottage" and what remains of a lifestyle long gone, Elaine reconnects with her love of researching the past—until she discovers that the first such writer hired died under suspicious circumstances. Could her project stir someone to murder?
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestselling author in the United States. She writes novels in four cozy mystery series: the Tea by the Sea mysteries, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year-Round Christmas mysteries and, as Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series. She is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing, and her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis awards. She is a past president of Crime Writers of Canada and a co-organizer of Women Killing It, a crime writing festival.
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.
Reviews
“The best Canadian novels are always firmly set in a place…Vicki Delany’s second novel effectively uses the Muskoka setting for a very fine novel about memory and class and caste in old Ontario…Someone doesn't want the story of Moira Madison written and is willing to kill to keep the family secrets. Delany has done a great job with this book...This is, obviously, ideal reading for a weekend at the cottage or as a hostess gift for visitors. Read it under the trees and see every page come to life.”
“Delany's fine second mystery offers a breath of fresh air from north of the border…The alternating rhythm of chapters of contemporary narrative and shorter sections of Moira’s recollections of life as an army nurse helps build suspense. The striking setting, the picture of the Canadian social elite, and several deftly handled subplots make for a richly textured and highly satisfying read.”
“After a messy divorce, Elaine Benson thinks that a job helping wealthy Canadian matriarch Moira Madison write her memoirs might be just the thing to get her nonfiction writing career back on track…Readers who favor leisurely puzzles steeped in family dynamics and flavored with descriptions of beautiful scenery may find this just what they’re looking for.”
“Debut novelist Delany is adept at ratcheting up the emotional tension.”
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