Review: Negative Image by Vicki Delany

• Author: Vicki Delany
• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 edition (Nov 2 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058788X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590587881

From Amazon:

As the mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, shakes off a long hard winter, famous photographer Rudolph Steiner arrives to do a feature on mountain tourism. Steiner is accompanied by his assistant and sexy young wife, but he has another reason for the visit: to reconnect with the woman who left him twenty-five years ago to marry another man.

 

Twenty-five years ago she was young, beautiful, naïve, and an internationally known supermodel. Today Eliza Winters is no longer young, and definitely not naïve, but still beautiful and married to Trafalgar City Police Sergeant John Winters.

 

When Steiner is found dead in his luxury hotel room, shot once in the back of the head, suspicion falls upon Eliza. John Winters is forced into the most difficult decision of his life: loyalty to his job or to his wife. As the RCMP dig into the secrets of both Steiner and Eliza, John Winters slowly comes to realize that he doesn’t know the woman to whom he has been married for twenty-five years as well as he thought he did.

 

Unable to help the Sergeant, Constable Molly Smith has her own troubles: a series of B&Es has the peaceful town in an uproar, her overprotective Mountie boyfriend is fighting with her colleagues, and a vengeful stalker is watching her every move. When tragedy strikes at the heart of her own family, Molly can’t even turn to her mother, Lucky, for help.

 

My Review:

A review ebook copy was provided to me through Net Galley for the purposes of this review.

 

It is so refreshing to read a mystery series set in British Columbia.  And Vicki Delany has captured the spirit of the Kootenays in her setting for this series, the fictional town of Trafalgar.  Trafalgar is very similar to Nelson which is a free spirited, environmentally conscious and often refreshingly open town which is beloved by residents and visitors alike.

 

I was already a fan having read the previous three novels and I own the first two. With each of Ms. Delany's novels in this series we are becoming better acquainted with the town itself, Molly and her family and friends and with Police Sergeant John Winters and his wife Eliza.  Previously, I had admired John Winters but I was disappointed in his behaviour toward his wife in this book (or maybe he was just acting like a typical man).  I had not liked his wife Eliza too much before this novel but with her past laid bare we are finally acquainted with the real Eliza, and I like her, questionable past, faults and all.  Molly is growing up before our eyes as the young police constable faces many challenges, both professional and personal, in this outing.  The inhabitants of Trafalgar are becoming like old friends and I am looking forward to seeing what their next adventure is in the next book in the series.  I like the balance of criminal menace and personal relationships that characterize this series.  Another winner!