Review: Cold Mourning, Brenda Chapman

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*

It's a week before Christmas when wealthy businessman Tom Underwood disappears into thin air -- with more than enough people wanting him dead.
New police recruit Kala Stonechild, who has left her northern Ontario detachment to join a specialized Ottawa crime unit, is tasked with returning Underwood home in time for the holidays. Stonechild, who is from a First Nations reserve, is a lone wolf who is used to surviving on her wits. Her new boss, Detective Jacques Rouleau, has his hands full controlling her, his team, and an investigation that keeps threatening to go off track.

Brenda Chapman grew up in Terrace Bay, Ontario. She earned a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. During her third year of studies, she took a course in creative writing and began writing poetry and short stories.
Brenda attended teachers’ college at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, earning a Bachelor of Education. Upon completion, she moved to Ottawa where she became a special education teacher. She taught reading, language arts and math to children, teenagers and adults for nearly fifteen years. To further her own studies, Brenda spent two summers at Ottawa University studying special education. In Ottawa, Brenda met her husband Ted, and they have two daughters.
In 1997, Brenda left teaching to begin working for the federal government as a writer/editor. Subsequently, she worked in communications for the federal Department of Justice, a senior complaints and investigations officer in the Canadian Transportation Agency and a senior briefing analyst and senior communications advisor at Health Canada. In addition to her work as an author, Brenda is currently employed as a senior communications advisor for the federal Department of Justice.

Really loved the synopsis for this one. A man with a lot of enemies disappearing is a promise for a great puzzle.
I really liked Kala though I did not always agree with her actions. It is clear she has a totally different goal with joining the force of Ottawa and I did not really understand that she did agree. There is obviously a lot of back story going on with her life too and it takes a long time before pieces come together and you can completely understand. This made it difficult to freely connect to her. I did like Rouleau. He was steady point in the whole story.
The puzzle was done very well. As a reader you were able to puzzle along and keep track of the clues. I love that with mysteries. With a lot of suspects it was great fun to think who had the best motive. Though I did suspect the right one early one it does take a long time for all the clues to come together and really explain it all.

Cold Mourning
Author: Brenda Chapman
Publisher: Dundurn Group
Pages: 392
Format: eGalley
ISBN-10: 1459708024
ISBN-13: 9781459708020
Dundurn Group: Paperback

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