Joanne Kilbourn is looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the lake
with her children and her new grandchild when murder once more wreaks
havoc in Regina, Saskatchewan. A young colleague at the university where
Joanne teaches is found stabbed to death in the basement of the library.
Ariel Warren was a popular lecturer among the students and staff, and
her violent death shocks - and divides - Regina's small and fractious
academic community. Kevin Coyle, a professor earlier accused of sexual
harassment, is convinced the murder is connected to his case, even as
Ariel's long-time lover, Charlie Dowhanuik, a radio talk-show host,
seems to point the finger at himself in his on-air comments on the day
of the murder.
Aghast at Charlie's indiscretion, his father, Howard, asks his old
friend Joanne for her help. But before Joanne has a chance to start
searching for the truth, she is scorched by the white-hot anger of
militant feminists on campus when a vigil for the dead woman turns ugly.
Instead of a tribute to Ariel's life, the vigil becomes an angry protest
about violence against women. Some of the women there are certain they
know who killed Ariel, and they are out for vengeance.
The everyday family problems and joys Joanne Kilbourn experiences as she
solves baffling murder cases have endeared her to a growing number of
fans, as have the television movies, starring Wendy Crewson as Joanne.
The seventh novel in Gail Bowen's much-loved series, Burying Ariel
offers readers an imaginative, compassionate, and, above all,
challenging mystery.
