Burying Ariel

Joanne Kilbourn is looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the lake with her children and her new grandchild when murder once more wreaks havoc in Regina, Saskatchewan. A young colleague at the university where Joanne teaches is found stabbed to death in the basement of the library.

Ariel Warren was a popular lecturer among the students and staff, and her violent death shocks – and divides – Regina’s small and fractious academic community. Kevin Coyle, a professor earlier accused of sexual harassment, is convinced the murder is connected to his case, even as Ariel’s long-time lover, Charlie Dowhanuik, a radio talk-show host, seems to point the finger at himself in his on-air comments on the day of the murder.

Aghast at Charlie’s indiscretion, his father, Howard, asks his old friend Joanne for her help. But before Joanne has a chance to start searching for the truth, she is scorched by the white-hot anger of militant feminists on campus when a vigil for the dead woman turns ugly. Instead of a tribute to Ariel’s life, the vigil becomes an angry protest about violence against women. Some of the women there are certain they know who killed Ariel, and they are out for vengeance.

The everyday family problems and joys Joanne Kilbourn experiences as she solves baffling murder cases have endeared her to a growing number of fans, as have the television movies, starring Wendy Crewson as Joanne. The seventh novel in Gail Bowen’s much-loved series, Burying Ariel offers readers an imaginative, compassionate, and, above all, challenging mystery.

From the Hardcover edition.