The Storm Murders

Starred review from March 2, 2015
In Farrow’s smart, enthralling fourth Émile Cinq-Mars thriller (after 2011’s River City), the retired Montreal police detective consults on a case involving the murder of a married couple at an isolated Quebec farmhouse. Cinq-Mars works with an FBI agent who’s investigating several murders committed in like fashion in the U.S. Each of the American murders was committed after a natural disaster, and the Canadian one occurred during a severe snowstorm. In every case, the wife’s naked body was found upstairs with no sign of sexual assault, the husband found shot or knifed to death, and each victim’s left ring finger severed and taken from the crime scene. After Cinq-Mars’s much younger wife, Sandra, who’s considering leaving him, offers to assist him, he knows his marriage may well depend upon the success of their collaboration. The hair-raising action moves from New Orleans to Alabama and back to Quebec, building to a brilliantly executed conclusion. Agents: Carolyn Forde and Bruce Westwood, Westwood Creative Artists (Canada).

Starred review from March 15, 2015
After a farm couple is murdered in Montreal in the wake of a blizzard, newly retired DS Emile Cinq-Mars is asked by an FBI agent to look into possible connections with similar killings in New Orleans. Though there's one major difference-the two cops who first arrived at the Montreal murder scene were killed as well-the FBI agent thinks the crimes are the work of a serial killer who strikes after natural disasters. The killer's signature is cutting off a finger from each victim. Partly to placate his wife, Sandra, who wants him to stay retired, Cinq-Mars agrees to go to New Orleans, where he can mix business and pleasure. But shortly after they arrive, Sandra is kidnapped under odd circumstances. Emile sees everyone-the New Orleans cops, FBI agents, an ambitious hotel security guard-as a suspect. More people are killed. Ransom instructions are issued. The minivacation is off. Farrow, the pen name of Trevor Ferguson, an acclaimed Canadian literary novelist, honors the traditions of the genre while adding enjoyable wrinkles. The slow-moving but fast-thinking Cinq-Mars can be counted on for plenty of frumpy humor, but when things get cold and sinister, he's no pushover, even when making words his weapon. Because he's so good at it, a long scene that would be talky in another novel is gripping in this one. One of the best mysteries from Canada in some time, this fourth book in a strong series is equally good at capturing the atmosphere of New Orleans and the distinctive qualities of Montreal.

Starred review from April 1, 2015

Emile Cinq-Mars is a brilliant and celebrated Montreal police detective, relying on his keen powers of observation and deduction rather than fancy equipment. His exploits were captured in three previous books (City of Ice), although not all were published in the United States. Happily for Americans, the detective returns in this launch to a new trilogy. Cinq-Mars has recently retired with his wife, Sandra, to the countryside, where they train horses at their farm. When a couple on a nearby farm is murdered during a snowstorm, along with the two detectives sent to investigate, Cinq-Mars finds himself recruited by the FBI to act informally as a liaison between the agency and Canadian detectives. The couple's killing fits the MO of a serial killer in the States who strikes during natural disasters. Cinq-Mars agrees to help, but as he and other investigators chase down clues in Canada and New Orleans, they soon find themselves in the path of a dangerous killer who seems to take pleasure in outwitting the police. VERDICT Farrow (the pen name of Canadian writer Trevor Ferguson) has written an excellent thriller in which characters, plot, and setting score a triple for suspense.--Melissa DeWild, Kent Dist.Lib., Comstock Park, MI

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
The return of the Emile Cinq-Mars series will be welcomed by all readers of police procedurals, especially those who favor the line running from P. D. James to Louise Penny. Former chief detective in the Montreal police, Cinq-Mars is now retired and living with his younger and disenchanted wife on a horse farm in rural Ontario. Surprisingly, he is summoned by his former colleagues to consult on a double murder in a nearby farmhouse. The killings took place during a severe snowstorm, yet the killer left no tracks entering or leaving the property. The FBI has joined the investigation due to the similarity between this crime and several in the U.S. that also took place during or immediately following severe storms. Cinq-Mars is reluctant to take the assignment but agrees, quickly realizing that he has missed his badge and even his Glockmeister. Farrow (a pseudonym for Canadian author Trevor Ferguson) brings a literary fiction writer's sensitivity to nuance and feel for landscape to this fine, character-rich thriller with a bang-up finish. Add Cinq-Mars to your shortlist of favorite retired Montreal detectives, including, of course, Penny's Armand Gamache.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)