Buried on Sunday

A Geoffry Chadwick Misadventure, Book 2 — "One of the problems with weekends in the country" says Geoffry Chadwick's genial host in Buried on Sunday, "is that people feel free to drop in unannounced." And drop in they do. No sooner has our loveable lawyer hero, a partner in the prestigious law firm of Lyall, Pierce, Chadwick and Dawson—who just happens to be gay—settled in with a spicy Bloody Mary, than hardened criminals on the lam burst in and take Chadwick and his hosts' hostage in their own beautiful home.

A tale of mystery and suspense brims with human drama, both poignant and comic: It turns out that one of the other hostages, now married, had once been Chadwick's lover. As the hours of their forced confinement turn into days, a flood of bittersweet memories engulf Chadwick, of an affair whose painful end he could never forget, of a lover who had changed the course of his life. As the weekend moves toward its powerful denouement, Chadwick comes to terms with the road he has taken—and the quite different path, of marriage and convention, chosen by his early love.

First published in 1986, it won the coveted Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. This 2019 edition contains a contemporary interview with Phillips on reception of his work and a reminiscence of Edward Phillips' 80th birthday celebration by Toronto author Nancy Wigston.