A Matter of Malice
Thomas King
Can a reality TV show solve a cold case?
The crew of a true-crime reality TV show, Malice Aforethought, shows up in Chinook to do an episode about the death of Trudy Samuels. Trudy's death had originally been ruled accidental, but with ratings in mind, one of the producers, Nina Maslow, wants to prove it was murder. And she wants Thumps to help. Thumps is reluctant to get involved until Nina dies in the exact same place and in the exact same way as Trudy. Are the two deaths related? Or are there two murderers on the loose in Chinook? Thumps uses Nina's Malice Aforethought files to try to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, and in the process discovers that she had already started work on another case close to Thumps' heart: the Obsidian murders. (From HarperCollins Canada)
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From the book
Thumps DreadfulWater stood on his porch and considered the night and the high, bright sweep of stars overhead. He shouldn't be up. He had gone to bed in good order, had even fallen asleep. Yet here he was. Standing in the dark, awake, depressed, waiting for the dawn to find him.
Not a problem. He wasn't going anywhere.
For pragmatists, autumn marked the end of barbecues, swimming at the lake, and sunbathing in the backyard. For the more philosophically inclined, the cold skies and the fading light were a metaphor for old age and death.
Or something equally melodramatic.
Thumps liked the season. Cool nights. High mountain colour. The end of days for the bitey bugs. But this autumn hadn't started well, and he wasn't sure that it was going to improve any time soon.
From A Matter of Malice by Thomas King ©2019. Published by HarperCollins Canada.
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