Keeper of the Flame Page 31

  “Dessert?” Annie said. “We hardly ever have dessert. Isn’t this just the perfect world.”

  “Maybe not perfect for real,” I said. “But sometimes it feels that way, which is good enough for me.”

  Both of us polished off our entire desserts.

  Annie and I smiled at one another.

  “The dishes can probably wait until tomorrow,” I said.

  Annie reached across the table. Hand in hand, we walked upstairs to the bedroom.

  Also Available from Dundurn

  Butterfly Kills

  A Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery

  by Brenda Chapman

  Jacques Rouleau has moved to Kingston to look after his father and take up the position of head of the town’s Criminal Investigations Division. One hot week in late September, university student Leah Sampson is murdered in her apartment. In another corner of the city, Della Munroe is raped by her husband. At first the crimes appear unrelated, but as Sergeant Rouleau and his new team of officers dig into the women’s pasts, they discover unsettling coincidences. When Kala Stonechild, one of Rouleau’s former officers from Ottawa, suddenly appears in Kingston, Rouleau enlists her to help.

  Stonechild isn’t sure if she wants to stay in Kingston, but agrees to help Rouleau in the short term. While she struggles with trying to decide if she can make a life in this new town, a ghost from her past starts to haunt her.

  As the detectives delve deeper into the cases, it seems more questions pop up than answers. Who murdered Leah Sampson? And why does Della Monroe’s name keep showing up in the murder investigation? Both women were hiding secrets that have unleashed a string of violence. Stonechild and Rouleau race to discover the truth before the violence rips more families apart.

  Copyright © Jack Batten, 2016

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

  All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Editor: Dominic Farrell

  Design: BJ Weckerle

  Cover Design: Laura Boyle

  Image credits: © Noppol Mahawanjam/123RF.com

  Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Batten, Jack, 1932-, author

  Keeper of the flame / Jack Batten.

  (A Crang mystery)

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4597-3322-0 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3323-7 (pdf).--

  ISBN 978-1-4597-3324-4 (epub)

  I. Title. II. Series: Batten, Jack, 1932- . Crang mystery.

  PS8553.A833K44 2016 C813’.54 C2015-904914-8

  We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

  Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

  J. Kirk Howard, President

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