The next Meg Harris mystery

I know. I've been bad. It's been eons since I added a new message to my blog. But I do have a good excuse. I've been head down, fingers flying finalizing RED ICE FOR A SHROUD, the next Meg Harris mystery. And now I can relax. It's with the publisher. In fact the cover design should be ready any day now. And the book itself will be in bookstores this fall.

I'm really excited about this next Meg Harris mystery. It takes place in winter, which proved very timely for the writing of it. All I had to do for inspiration was watch the snow flying past my cabin window. And because I myself experienced those anxious days in 1998 when The Great Ice Storm imprisoned West Quebec in a gridlock of ice, I had to have Meg experience one too.

RED ICE FOR A SHROUD opens with Meg and her mottly work crew of four facing an angry old man and his gun. He refuses to allow them passage on his land for the clearing of a new trail for the first annual Migiskan Ski Marathon, one of Eric Odjik's grand schemes. And yes, Eric is back, but I'm sure you've already guessed that from the ending of DEATH'S GOLDEN WHISPER.

And while Eric and Meg try to figure out how to get around the old man, winter's first blizzard dumps a foot or more of snow making further trail clearing all but impossible. But their woes don't end here. Five days later they discover the frozen and naked body of a young Qebecoise, one of Meg's work crew, in an isolated hunting camp on the Migiskan Reserve. And another of Meg's crew, a young Algonquin, is charged with her murder. But Meg isn't entirely convinced of his guilt, so she sets out to help him. And as she tries to prove his innocence, she is plunged into the reality of police prejudice. Meanwhile, Eric battles a problem of his own, drugs on the reserve.

And I think that is about all I will devulge. To find out more, you'll just have to read the book when it comes out in the fall.