Fatal Harvest
After a day of fishing, eleven-year-old Matt returns to the farmhouse where he’s been spending the summer with his mother’s friends, Devina and Stu Petrie. He’s already looking forward to a surprise that they’ve been hinting at for his birthday the next day. But when he enters the darkened house, he finds their blood-soaked bodies lying on the floor: both have been shot dead. As he considers calling the police, a car pulls into the yard and footsteps sound on the front porch. Matt knows that only a stranger would come to the front door: is this the killer, returning for him?
The apparent rural charms of Ashton, a small village nestled in Ontario farming country west of urban Ottawa, prove to be no protection from the stresses and dangers that exist elsewhere.
The Petrie’s bodies are discovered the next evening when two neighbours stop by to give Stu a ride to the local pub. Ottawa Police Detective Liam Hunter is called to the scene to head up the investigation. The neighbours report that a boy was staying with the couple this summer, but he’s missing. None of them know anything about the boy or who his family is. The police launch a search for Matt, not knowing whether he’s been kidnapped, killed, or is possibly the perpetrator of this crime.
Meanwhile, freelance journalist and podcaster Ella Tate is also on the story, digging for any information she can get from the Petrie’s neighbours or Matt’s friend Jimmy. To her surprise, she discovers that Matt has no social media presence, not even on TikTok. Further, he has no cellphone and has avoided having his photo taken. This puts another twist on Matt’s presence at the Petrie’s: was he in hiding? And if so, why?
This lively novel is the third in prolific author Brenda Chapman’s new series featuring police detective Liam Hunter and journalist Ella Tate. The two of them have developed a productive partnership, sharing information to solve cases, though they keep their collaboration on the down-low to avoid criticism.
With lots of suspense, some great interplay between characters (among the police as well as civilians) and a couple of great twists, this is a terrific read with some intriguing storylines that intertwine and lead to a satisfying ending.
Brenda Chapman is a Canadian crime fiction author who studied English literature at Lakehead and Carleton universities and earned a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. She taught for fifteen years in the field of special education followed by a Communications career in the federal government, before retiring to write full-time.
Over the past twenty years, she has published twenty-five novels. In addition to short stories and standalones, she has written the popular Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series, the Anna Sweet mystery novellas, and the Jennifer Bannon mysteries for middle grade readers. Her work has been shortlisted for several awards, including four Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence.
Brenda is a member of the Writers Union of Canada, Sisters in Crime, Capital Crime Writers, and Crime Writers of Canada. She served two terms as president of Capital Crime Writers, and two terms as the Ottawa/Eastern Ontario Director for Crime Writers of Canada.
She lives in Ottawa with her husband, Ted Weagle. She shares updates and thoughts about her writing life on her regular Saturday blog. She is currently working on a fourth book in the Hunter and Tate series.