Donald Bourassa

People are still talking about the winter of 2015 and the murder of Phil Gagnon. No one remembers that winter more vividly than Assistant Chief Raymond “Ray” Barrett. The night Phil Gagnon was murdered started out no different than any other Friday night. Ray had stumbled home about eleven o’clock after spending the night at Bottoms Up, a typical small town bar, in the Town of Oxford*,* located on the outskirts of The Villages. Chief Barrett would be the last to admit he’s a functioning alcoholic. He spends his off duty hours hanging out at Bottoms Up*,* his home away from home, with drinking his constant companion. But the murder turns Ray’s life into more than a blur of working and drinking. He comes face to face with four couples whose lives are turned upside down by the Gagnon murder.

Each couple’s lives are examined, revealing the secrets, sins and desires for revenge seething through these four couples. Will the murder expose deep-rooted pressures each married couple is hiding? Read about who was abused as a child, who hid the real father of her child, how a mother and father deal with a child’s suicide, and who finds happiness loving a person of the same sex. Are there such things as happy endings? All this found in the sleepy community called The Villages.

This book is perfect for book clubs, complete with book topic questions.