Black Fly Season [Hardcover]

Reviews of Forty Words for Sorrow

‘Intensely vivid characters, terrible crimes and a brutal deep-frozen landscape all prove beyond a reasonable doubt that cold nurtures good and evil as readily as heat…and that Giles Blunt is a really tremendous crime novelist’ Lee Child

‘One of the finest crime novels I’ve ever read. Giles Blunt writes with uncommon grace, style and compassion and he plots like a demon. This book as it all – unforgettable characters, beautiful language, throat-constricting suspense’ Jonathan Kellerman

‘A taut and enthralling tale that is as dark as the Canadian winter setting is cold. Humane, intelligent and gripping, Forty Words for Sorrow is a haunting journey into the human heart in all its complexities’ Val McDermid

‘A fine debut that deserves to do well, and promises much from a talented new author’ Jim Driver, Time Out

‘A superior Canadian police procedural with an evocative sense of place: the frozen lakes and forests are as integral to the plot as the flawed detective … an impressive achievement’ Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian

The third atmospheric psychological thriller featuring detectives Cardinal and Delorme, from the award-winning author of Forty Words for Sorrow.

It's early summer in Algonquin Bay and the black flies aren't the only ones out for blood. Someone is trying to kill a young red-haired woman, but after being shot in the head with a small-calibre weapon she cannot remember her own name or where she's from, let alone why anyone would want to hurt her. Then a body turns up, horribly mutilated. Wombat Guthrie, biker and drug dealer, has taken his last ride.
It seems inconceivable that the two cases could be linked, but as detectives Cardinal and Delorme pursue their invesigations the name 'Red Bear' keeps cropping up. An Iroquois shaman, Red Bear has recently moved into the drug trade, enlisting the aid of the spirit world to direct his followers to rival gangs' drugs and money. In return, the 'spirits' demand sacrifice – human sacrifice.
As the mysterious young woman slowly regains her memory, Cardinal begins to suspect that she may not be so innocent after all, and that her recovered 'memories' may not be the whole truth. And what of Red Bear? Is he really an Iroquois? Really a shaman? Or just another drug dealer with an appetite for brutal murder?
Somehow Cardinal and Delorme must find the answers before the spirits claim another sacrifice.

Giles Blunt grew up in North Bay Ontario, and now lives in Toronto. He has written scripts for Law & Order, Street Legal, and Night Heat. Forty Words for Sorrow, the first psychological thriller to feature Detective Cardinal and Delorme, won the 2001 Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award. The Delicate Storm was the second in the series.