A Cruel Light

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA 2024 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE FINALIST! Hidden away and decaying for decades, a cryptic mural holds deadly clues in this intoxicating mix of art, murder, and buried secrets, perfect for fans of Simone St. James. It was a blood-curdling crime that rocked the town to its core, leaving some with permanent scars and others with deep regrets. A young girl had been brutally slain. Memories were beginning to fade, but during the renovation of the old parsonage, the murder rears its ugly head again when workers discover a time-ravaged portrait of the young victim. Conservator Annora Garde is hired by the local police to clean the painting and expose what lies buried within it. Inspector Scott 'Mac' MacGowan is convinced the mural is a cryptic confession that will solve the cold case--but it's looking more and more like someone will do whatever it takes to keep the past in the past. Together, Mac and Annora struggle to put the pieces of the puzzle together, in order to provide closure to surviving family members. Toxic mold obscures blood-chilling clues, and the painting has an eerie life of its own. Annora is haunted by what she reveals, by the dirt she digs up, by her own tragic losses, and perhaps even by the young victim herself. As she closes in on the killer, the killer inches ever closer to her, and she will come face to face with a brutal truth: some murderers never come clean.