Review: Butterfly Kills: A Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery (Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery #2) by Brenda Chapman

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 722 KB
• Print Length: 377 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1459723147
• Publisher: Dundurn (Jan. 10 2015)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00I4XXVI8

Book Description

Jacques Rouleau has moved to Kingston to look after his father and take up the position of head of the town's Criminal Investigations Division. One hot week in late September, university student Leah Sampson is murdered in her apartment. In another corner of the city, Della Munroe is raped by her husband. At first the crimes appear unrelated, but as Sergeant Rouleau and his new team of officers dig into the women's pasts, they discover unsettling coincidences. When Kala Stonechild, one of Rouleau's former officers from Ottawa, suddenly appears in Kingston, Rouleau enlists her to help. Stonechild isn't sure if she wants to stay in Kingston, but agrees to help Rouleau in the short-term. While she struggles with trying to decide if she can make a life in this new town, a ghost from her past starts to haunt her. As the detectives delve deeper into the cases, it seems more questions pop up than answers. Who murdered Leah Sampson? And why does Della Monroe's name keep showing up in the murder investigation? Both women were hiding secrets that have unleashed a string of violence. Stonechild and Rouleau race to discover the truth before the violence rips more families apart.

About the Author

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1287502.Brenda_Chapman
 I'm an Ottawa author with 14 published novels, including the Jennifer Bannon mysteries for ages 10+, a full length adult murder mystery In Winter's Grip (Dundurn 2010), and a Rapid Reads mystery The Second Wife (Orca 2011), which was shortlisted for a Golden Oak award. Second Chances, a YA novel for ages 13+ was released by Dundurn in September 2012.

I am currently writing two adult mystery series: The Stonechild and Rouleau police procedurals from Dundurn include Cold Mourning (2014) and Butterfly Kills (Jan. 2015).

The Anna Sweet mysteries are novellas from Grass Roots Press for adult literacy or those wanting a quick read. My Sister's Keeper and The Hard Fall were both released in 2013. To Keep a Secret was published in September 2014 and A Model Death in December 2014. My Sister's Keeper was shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis award and The Hard Fall is up for a Golden Oak Award.

I grew up in a small pulp mill town on the north shore of Lake Superior and earned degrees in English literature and teaching. I spent fifteen years as a special education teacher before becoming a senior communications advisor in the federal government.

My Review

If you kill a butterfly you will change someone's fate. 

Gotta love a Canadian-set mystery! Butterfly Kills provides a vivid picture of the area around Kingston, Ontario. It is an area that I am not familiar with so it was very interesting.

Butterfly Kills is the second book in the Stonechild and Rouleau Mysteries featuring Sergeant Rouleau and police officer Kala Stonechild. I had not read the first book in the series however I was still able to read Butterfly Kills as a stand-alone. Both officers were previously based in Canada's capital, Ottawa. Stonechild is First Nations.

There is a lot going on in Butterfly Kills but the different stories make for an interesting read. I found the storylines to be very contemporary. There is murder, marital rape and differing customs that make up the mosaic that Canada is. Secrets abound in this police procedural. Follow the mysteries and learn the secrets going on in Kingston, Ontario.