Deadly Appearances: Gail Bowen

Andy Boychuk is a Saskatchewan politician who has recently become the leader of the Opposition party in his province. There is a picnic to celebrate, but just as he gets up to speak, he drinks some water and falls to the floor. His close friend and colleague, Joanne Kilbourn is nearby and rushes to attempt CPR – to no avail. On this hot summer afternoon, her life changes. Andy's death is clearly murder, and she wants to know who has done it.

Preparations for the funeral introduce us to the politician's wife and the other party members who were his support group. We learn of tragedies that have occurred in both the victim's life and Joanne's life. Joanne has three children, one about to move away to college. She is widowed and lost her husband three years earlier as the result of a senseless act of violence. She decides to step away from politics and campaigning for a while and write a biography of Andy. In searching deeply into her friend's past, she stumbles on secrets and clues to the reason for his death.

Joanne tells this story in first person narrative. She doesn't really function as a sleuth in this book, as she is never actively looking for the murderer. Many people suspect Andy's wife, because of her weird behavior, but Joanne does not believe she is capable of that.

I read this mystery for the Canadian Book Challenge 6. I enjoyed learning about the Saskatchewan area. The politics of that province were an element in the story, but I never caught on to the workings of politics and the government in Canada. Thus I did not understand the importance of some of the occurrences. Or maybe it is just that I have never understood politics anywhere. As in Anthony Bidulka's books about Russell Quant, also set in Saskatchewan, several of the characters have Ukrainian backgrounds.

This almost did not feel like a mystery to me. Sometimes those are the best kinds of novels. There is a death and it is clearly murder. There is an investigation, and the reader knows that long hidden secrets will be revealed. But mainly this is the story of a woman grieving for a friend and a colleague she respected, and dealing with a life turned upside down by the loss. And it was the telling of that story that was most engaging to me.

This book is the first in a series of fourteen books. It was published in 1990 and the most recent book in the series will be released in the US in August 2013. I will be interested to continue the series and see where it takes Joanne.


Links to posts at other sites:

• Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist... profiles this book.
• Bill at Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan provides his insights on the book.
• Maxine’s review at Petrona.