- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 530 KB
- Print Length: 392 pages
- Publisher: Dundurn (Oct. 14 2017)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B01NCKQXCS
Book Description
With her husband under arrest for murder and Meg desperate to prove his innocence, she flies to Yellowknife, where a tangled web of family secrets and greed awaits her.
Meg Harris is forced to leave the sanctuary of Three Deer Point and fly to Yellowknife, where her stepdaughter lies near death and her husband is in jail for killing a man. Expecting to find Eric shouting his innocence, she instead finds him cowed and willing to do hard time. But Meg doesn't believe he s guilty.
Convinced that there s more to the murder victim and the attack on her stepdaughter than the police think, Meg finds herself on a sordid trail of family secrets and greed, hoping she can prove her husband s innocence. Fragments of an ancient embroidery lead her to a remote Dene hunting camp, where all is not what it seems."
About the Author
Called "queen of Canadian wilderness fiction", R.J. Harlick writes the acclaimed Meg Harris mystery series set in the wilds of Canada with an underlying native theme. There are currently seven books in the series with the eighth, Purple Palette for Murder, due out in October 2017.
The fourth book, Arctic Blue Death, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Best Novel award. Silver Totem of Shame was named one of the top ten summer crime fiction reads by the Globe & Mail and was a recommended beach read by the Seattle Public Library. Cold White Fear was a CBC recommended mystery read.
With Death's Golden Whisper, the first book in the Meg Harris mystery series, RJ introduces protagonist Meg Harris who has fled the urban frenzy of Toronto and her failed marriage to Three Deer Point, a remote wilderness property in West Quebec, that she inherited from her Great Aunt Agatha. She lives in a century old Victorian timber cottage perched on a granite point overlooking the black waters of Echo Lake. Her only neighbour is the reserve of the Fishhook Algonquins, or Migiskan Anishinabeg. She drinks a little too much and is afraid of the dark, yet her only companion in this remote cottage is her wimpy standard poodle, Sergei.
She has fled to this northern paradise to heal her bruised soul. But her sought after peace is invariably interrupted by injustice and murder. Unable to ignore it, Meg becomes enmeshed in a quagmire of murderous intrigue.
After travelling to Baffin Island in Arctic Blue Death, Meg decided that she would love to explore a different Canadian wilderness and visit with its native peoples in every other book. Silver Totem of Shame takes place in Vancouver and Haida Gwaii, the mystical islands of the Haida. Purple Palette for Murder has Meg flying to the Northwest Territories when her husband is charged with murder.
Though the story of each book can stand on its own, there is a backstory about Meg and other characters that evolves from book to book. So avid readers of mystery series might want to start with the first book, Death's Golden Whisper.
Harlick is a member and past president of Crime Writers of Canada and Capital Crime Writers. She is also a member of Sisters in Crime, The Writers Union of Canada and Quebec Writers Federation.
She is a regular panelists at such conferences as Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, and Malice Domestic. She also does many store signings and library readings. To check out her schedule visit her blog. http://rjharlick.blogspot.ca
RJ blogs every second Tuesday on Criminal Minds - http://7criminalminds.blogspot.ca.
Visit with RJ on Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/RJHarlick
and on her website - http://www.rjharlick.ca
My Review
Purple Palette for Murder is the latest Meg Harris mystery by author R.J. Harlick. The Meg Harris series is set in Canada and written by a Canadian author. R.J. Harlick thoroughly researches the areas where she sets the stories and I find that I learn a lot while I am reading an enjoyable tale.
Meg is still recovering from her experiences in the last book, A Cold White Fear, which was a terrifying read. I would still be recovering from them too. But when she finds out her husband has been arrested for the murder of his daughter's accused rapist and attacker, she is on the first plane to Yellowknife in Canada's North West Territories.
Purple Palette for Murder is a great mystery but it is also a great geography lesson. More importantly, the book realistically approaches the problems that linger for Canada's First Nation people. Most of the problems lead back to the residential school system where native children where taken from their parents and placed in schools far from home. At these schools, the children were told to forget their native heritage and become "white" basically. There was terrible abuse at these schools. The results of the abuse have trickled down through the generations and we are left with a lot of damaged people. I applaud author Harlick for her realistic portrayal of a broken but resilient people.
Purple Palette for Murder also touches on the resource development of the North West Territories. Diamonds were discovered there and there has been a boom accompanying this. A number of First Nations people are torn between leaving the habitat intact or exploiting the resources such as diamonds.
I highly recommend Purple Palette for Murder.
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