Among the Departed by Vicki Delany

When I want to read a good traditional police procedural, with characters whose lives change in the course of the series, I'm very content to pick up one of Vicki Delany's Constable Molly Smith books. The Trafalgar, British Columbia setting is perfect, providing a small town atmosphere while the police have to deal with crimes that affect the citizens and the tourists who visit. Among the Departed, Delany's latest, is another satisfying story that incorporates one of my favorite elements in a mystery, the cold case.

Molly is with her boyfriend, Constable Adam Tocek of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, when his dog, Norman, is called out on a case. Adam is the dog handler for that area of British Columbia, so when a five-year-old boy goes missing from a campground, Adam takes Molly with him to search for the child. They find the child, but when Molly trips trying to pick him up, Norman uncovers bones that appear to be human.

The age of the bones lead Sergeant John Winters to suspect they may be the bones of a man who went missing when Molly was in eighth grade. She may have been the last person, outside of his family, to see Brian Nowak before he disappeared, since she spent the night before with her friend, Nicky Nowak. Brian Nowak's disappearance changed his family. Neither of his children had the life they expected to lead. In the course of the new investigation, family and town stories are going to be re-examined. Lives that were tragically changed years earlier can now impact innocent lives in Trafalgar.

It was a pleasure to return to Delany's Trafalgar in this mystery, catching up with Molly Smith, her friends and family, and John Winters and his wife. The lives of these characters are important to the stories and the plots. I'd recommend that any reader start with the first in the series, In the Shadow of the Glacier.

Delany does a wonderful job showing how people can be affected by the past, linking one man to so many others. Although I love to read cold cases, one statement made in this book hit me. "Open up old wounds, potentially cause a great deal of pain. Cold cases could be very nasty things."  Among the Departed shows just how nasty those cases can get.

Vicki Delany's website is www.vickidelany.com

Among the Departed by Vicki Delany. Poisoned Pen Press. ©2011. ISBN 9781590588895 (paperback), 277p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - I read a copy of the book that I purchased for the library.

Negative Image by Vicki Delany

If characters are important to you in your mysteries,  I urge you to pick up Vicki Delany's Constable Molly Smith mysteries, set in Trafalgar, a mountain town in British Columbia.   There are four in the series now, with a fifth due out in May.  Although I'm going to review the fourth, Negative Image, I encourage you to start with the first one, In the Shadow of the Glacier.  For those of us who appreciate ongoing series with characters who change, it's important to start at the beginning of this series.  Get to know the characters.  So much changes in book four, Negative Image.

Sergeant John Winters is called to a murder scene at the Hudson House Hotel, the best hotel in town, just as he was about to leave for a short trip with his wife, Eliza.  A hotel maid, hoping to leave her modeling photos, had stumbled across the body of a well-known photographer.   Fortunately, it was a Mountie, and a friend of John's, who found a thirty-year-old picture of Eliza at the scene, a crude picture that could implicate her.  But Winters was now walking around with evidence in his pocket, afraid to reveal it, and afraid to confront his wife.

Constable Molly Smith has problems of her own to deal with.  She's responsible for patrolling streets in Trafalgar, but it's difficult to do her job when she feels threatened by the man who once beat her best friend.  And, it's just as difficult when her boyfriend, Adam, a Mountie, feels he should protect her, and defend her reputation when other cops make crude comments.  She needs her job to take her mind off her father's recent accident at his outdoor adventure store, and his hospital stay that upsets her mother so much.  When Winters, thrown out of the murder investigation, works on local burglaries, Molly is eager to help. 

Vicky Delany's characters have a depth, and a history.   Negative Image forces both of her main characters to examine their own lives and feelings, as they face their greatest personal problems yet.  She skillfully entwines their personal lives with the ongoing investigations in Trafalgar.  It's a small town, and Delany shows how crime and small incidents can affect so many people.  Delany risks her characters' emotions as well as anyone does.  That gives them life, and depth, and calls the reader back for more.

Vicki Delany's website is http://www.vickidelany.com/

Although I bought, and read a Kindle edition of this book, it's available in hardcover and paperback.  Negative Image by Vicki Delany.  Poisoned Pen Press, ©2010. ISBN 9781590587881 (hardcover), 250p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - I bought my Kindle edition of this book.