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Rating: 
Summary: Humor, complications, characters -- good stuff!
Review: A cozy reminiscent of the best Agatha Christie had to offer. There are two new police officers solving mysteries and they can use the stuff that Agatha's heroes could not. They are called into play over a long hot weekend in July when, at their estate in Canada, some hoity-toity folks have a large getaway with family and friends. Of course the weekend could not be complete without a body turning up in the garden and telephoning the police. You have humor, complications, and characters so real that you can just about touch them and smell their sweat. Good stuff!Leann Arndt, Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Humor, complications, characters -- good stuff!
Review: A cozy reminiscent of the best Agatha Christie had to offer. There are two new police officers solving mysteries and they can use the stuff that Agatha's heroes could not. They are called into play over a long hot weekend in July when, at their estate in Canada, some hoity-toity folks have a large getaway with family and friends. Of course the weekend could not be complete without a body turning up in the garden and telephoning the police. You have humor, complications, and characters so real that you can just about touch them and smell their sweat. Good stuff! Leann Arndt, Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Mystery
Review: Lawyer Peter Martin and his devastatingly beautiful trophy wife, Jillian, captured my interest right from the beginning of this page-turning mystery. The Martins are on their way to the country mansion of Peter's partner George Brodie and his wife, Ellen, for the July long weekend. But there are complications. Jillian's mousy, apologetic older sister, Shauna, turns up unexpectedly at the Martins' apartment. Peter insists on taking her along and Jillian wants to leave her behind. We gather this is only the tip of the iceberg in the tensions building between the couple. Over at the Brodies, the weekend is shaping up to be far more than what George, and especially Ellen, had bargained for. Their guest list keeps expanding. It was to include only his law partners and their wives; their son Kendall; and Lorry, a distant relative of Ellen's, whom she hopes to match up with Kendall. But other guests keep turning up, some savory, some unsavory. As the weekend begins, there's lots of action and interaction among the ill-assorted group of weekenders, including the beginnings of unexpected romantic attachments. Events increasingly reveal the shallowness of the self-centred Jillian, which contrasts sharply with Lorry's depth and sincerity. By the end of Part I, there's a body in the Brodies' lovely Japanese garden. The rest of the book, in the best Agatha Christie tradition, keeps the reader guessing about which of the assembled weekenders tightened the noose around the victim's neck. I have only one small quibble. Part II starts slowly, with what I found to be too much detail about Detective Inspector Paul Manziuk and his partner, Jacqueline Ryan, who's been promoted because she's black and a woman--and who's out to prove she can be as good a cop as any in the department. It's well worth persisting through this slow patch because the rest of the book is riveting. I didn't guess "who done it" until Lindquist was good and ready to tell me near the end of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Mystery
Review: Lawyer Peter Martin and his devastatingly beautiful trophy wife, Jillian, captured my interest right from the beginning of this page-turning mystery. The Martins are on their way to the country mansion of Peter's partner George Brodie and his wife, Ellen, for the July long weekend. But there are complications. Jillian's mousy, apologetic older sister, Shauna, turns up unexpectedly at the Martins' apartment. Peter insists on taking her along and Jillian wants to leave her behind. We gather this is only the tip of the iceberg in the tensions building between the couple. Over at the Brodies, the weekend is shaping up to be far more than what George, and especially Ellen, had bargained for. Their guest list keeps expanding. It was to include only his law partners and their wives; their son Kendall; and Lorry, a distant relative of Ellen's, whom she hopes to match up with Kendall. But other guests keep turning up, some savory, some unsavory. As the weekend begins, there's lots of action and interaction among the ill-assorted group of weekenders, including the beginnings of unexpected romantic attachments. Events increasingly reveal the shallowness of the self-centred Jillian, which contrasts sharply with Lorry's depth and sincerity. By the end of Part I, there's a body in the Brodies' lovely Japanese garden. The rest of the book, in the best Agatha Christie tradition, keeps the reader guessing about which of the assembled weekenders tightened the noose around the victim's neck. I have only one small quibble. Part II starts slowly, with what I found to be too much detail about Detective Inspector Paul Manziuk and his partner, Jacqueline Ryan, who's been promoted because she's black and a woman--and who's out to prove she can be as good a cop as any in the department. It's well worth persisting through this slow patch because the rest of the book is riveting. I didn't guess "who done it" until Lindquist was good and ready to tell me near the end of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Strong, new voice in Canadian Mysteries!
Review: SHADED LIGHT is an excellent mystery in the classic sense -- a who-dunnit in the tradition of Agatha Christie, but for the 21st century. SHADED LIGHT would make a great 'Murder She Wrote' type of TV movie. If you like to curl up with a good mystery, one that has humor, a thread of romance, its share of twists and turns, pick up N.J. Linquist's SHADED LIGHT, and follow Manziuk and Ryan through the maze of clues and red herrings that will track a killer. I wasn't sure who the killer was until the very end. I'm looking forward to the author's next book in the series. Joan Hall Hovey, Author of 'Nowhere To Hide'
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