A Chill Rain in January

March 1, 1990
Sechelt, a village on the British Columbia Sunshine Coast, is the locale of the successor to Wright's Edgar-winning The Suspect . Among the memorable characters from the first novel--RCMP Sgt. Karl Alberg and friends--is beautiful, aloof Zoe Strahan, a new resident. Alberg and the members of the community are, however, more concerned about elderly Ramona Orlitzki, who has disappeared from the nursing home. During the search, Zoe's brother arrives at her house with blackmail in mind and she kills him. As the reader knows, Zoe has been getting away with murder for years and seems about to persuade Alberg that her brother died in a fall down her cellar steps. But Ramona is hiding in a guest house on Zoe's land, where the killer's young nephew finds a refuge with the failing but tough-minded old woman. While Zoe uses her wiles on the sergeant, she plans a feral attack on the defenseless pair. The story is rich in humorous and poignant aspects as well as fierce suspense.

April 29, 1991
RCMP Sgt. Karl Alberg and other residents of Sechelt, British Columbia, introduced in The Suspect encounter Zoe Strahan, a beautiful, aloof killer who has most recently dispatched her blackmail-minded brother and is planning an attack on both her nephew and an elderly woman. PW called this ``rich in humorous and poignant aspects as well as fierce suspense.''