Fans of Louise Penny and Michael Connelly, meet exasperating homicide detective Michael Green in this gripping police procedural.

Ottawa homicide inspector Michael Green is absolutely obsessed with his job, a condition that has almost ruined his marriage several times. When the biggest case of his career comes up, his position, his relationships, and several lives are put in grave danger. A young graduate student, the scion of a rich family, is found expertly stabbed in the stacks of a university library, but no one seems to have the slightest idea why.

As Green probes into the circumstances of the young man’s life, a tangled web of jealousy and intrigue is revealed. Green finds himself in the middle of a rivalry in the delicate arena of university politics, where gigantic egos regularly collide. Was it the diligent but socially inept researcher or the macho ladies-man golden boy of the laboratory? Or was it a crime of passion involving the over-protective family of his beautiful new girlfriend? When the murderer strikes again, Green realizes that he must waste no time in solving the case, no matter what the consequences may be.

Barbara Fradkin was born in Montreal and attended McGill, the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa, where she obtained her PhD in psychology. Her work as a child psychologist has provided ample inspiration and insight for plotting murders, and she recently left full-time practice in order to be able to devote more time to writing. Barbara has an affinity for the dark side, and her compelling short stories haunt several anthologies and magazines, including Storyteller, Iced (Insomniac Press, 2001), and the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, including Fit to Die, Bone Dance and When Boomers Go Bad, published by RendezVous Press. Her detective series features the exasperating, infuriating Ottawa Inspector Michael Green, whose love of the hunt often interferes with family, friends and police protocol. The series includes Do or Die (2000), Once Upon a Time (2002), Mist Walker (2003), and Fifth Son (Fall 2004). Once Upon a Time was nominated for Best Novel at the Arthur Ellis Awards, Canada’s top crime writing awards, and her latest title, Fifth Son won this prestigious award in 2005. The fifth in the series, Honour Among Men, (2006), repeated the honour, the only time that consecutive novels by the same author have won the award. The sixth and seventh novels, Dream Chasers and This Thing of Darkness, followed in 2007 and 2009.

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