Book Review: Forty Words for Sorrow

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Forty Words for Sorrow     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon US Audio Book Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC Amazon Canada Audio Book
Giles Blunt
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: John Cardinal and Lise Delorme
Putnam, Jun 2001, $24.95, 352 pp.

Near Algonquin Bay, Canada, Katie Pine and Todd Curry vanish into thin air at different times. Detective John Cardinal felt that the same person killed both missing people. His efforts to persuade his superior that a killer is on the loose fail. Frustrated with John's insistence that the teens are not runaways but victims, the brass transfers him to burglary until someone finds the remains of Pine.

Returned to homicide, John partners with Lise Delorme, formerly of Special Investigations. John is aware that Lise is investigating him due to the extraordinary sum of money he is spending on his home and his daughter's education at Yale. Neither speaks of the side investigation, preferring to concentrate on the murders. When a third youth disappears, both cops conclude a serial killer is the culprit, but the clues lead nowhere.

FORTY WORDS FOR SORROW is a fascinating character study that drives the investigation. Giles Blunt concentrates on his cast and their interactions especially John and Lise. Through the looking glass of the lead officers, readers observe the action in a more cerebral manner than usual. Thus, this work turns into a refreshing Canadian police procedural with a radically different approach to the entertaining story line.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner