***2025 Summer: Murder Across Canada***
Manitoba
3.6 out of 5 stars
It's a bit odd to be reading a book about winter in cold, snowy Winnipeg while seeing a beautiful summer day outside my Calgary window. I may not live in Manitoba, but any Canadian prairie dweller will recognize the weather that RCMP officer Roxanne Calloway has to deal with: icy streets, low temperatures, blinding snow, and impassable roads.
The old adage says to write what you know and Anderson knows Manitoba and theatre, so a mystery set in a professional theatre company in Winnipeg was a natural fit. My library didn't have the first book featuring Roxanne, so I can only judge by its description—the first murder victim in that novel is part of the local music scene. Obviously the arts are a subject of expertise for the author.
Anderson also makes use of issues that we all know plague our law enforcement agencies, like rampant sexism, among other biases, and the general belief of some officers that they are somehow exempt from the law that they are supposed to enforce. When a second murder occurs within Winnipeg city limits, Roxanne gets saddled with Cooper Jenkins, a city cop, who calls her Foxy Roxy, contradicts her at every turn, assumes he's in charge of the investigation, and eventually gets brained by a woman that he has been interrogating a little too aggressively. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
All in all, I felt the writing was solid. Anderson didn't waste words, she got right to it. She didn't over explain, just let the reader see what Roxanne saw. She planted believable red herrings, gave us a complicated plot, and wrapped things up while still leaving some questions in my mind. I love that—I don't want everything tied up neatly with a bow on top. Life isn't like that. I can't say that I'm desperate to read further in the series, which is just as well, since this is the only book that my library has.
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