Closing Time

May 4, 2020
In Canadian author Chapman’s entertaining seventh and final Stonechild and Rouleau mystery (after 2019’s Turning Secrets), police officer Kala Stonechild of the Kingston Major Crimes team takes her 15-year-old ward, Dawn, to Pine Hollow Lodge in northern Ontario for a much needed vacation. The remote location promises canoe trips, rugged scenery, and a complete absence of Wi-Fi and reliable cellphone service. Soon after their arrival, the battered body of 16-year-old Rachel Eglan, a waitress at the lodge, is found lying at the bottom of a culvert by the side of a narrow road. Ontario Provincial Police officer Clark Morrison, a former colleague of Stonechild, asks her to assist him in the investigation of the girl’s murder. There are plenty of suspects, and red herrings abound. Jacques Rouleau, Stonechild’s boss in Kingston, provides assistance from the sidelines. Series fans who have followed the evolving relationship between Stonechild and Rouleau will be just as interested in what fate has in store for the duo as in unraveling the fair-play plot. New readers will want to go back to the beginning.