Friday, April 29, 2011

Pg. 69: Vicki Delany's "Among the Departed"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Among the Departed by Vicki Delany.

About the book, from the publisher:
Fifteen years ago, a young girl named Moonlight Smith went to her best friend Nicky Nowak’s house for a sleepover. Before being picked up by her mother the following morning, Moonlight joined the Novak family for breakfast. Shortly after, Mr. Nowak went for a walk. He was never seen again.

Autumn has arrived on the mountains above Trafalgar, B.C. and the promise of winter is in the air. Constable Molly Smith is cuddled by the fireplace with Adam Tocek of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when Tocek and his dog Norman are called to a wilderness camping ground to join the search for a little boy who snuck away from his family. The child is found, dirty, terrified, weeping, but unharmed. Then the inquisitive Norman digs up something else: human bones.

The ID isn’t positive, but is enough to prompt Sergeant John Winters to re-open the Brian Nowak investigation. Sergeant Winters finds a family shattered beyond recognition: Mrs. Nowak is an empty shell of a woman who rarely leaves her house; her son Kyle haunts the streets of Trafalgar at night and spends his days creating highly disturbing art; and her daughter Nicky, who moved to Vancouver, has grown up to be gorgeous, charming, and elegant. Yet behind this glamorous façade is a dangerous and painful secret, and Nicky returns to Trafalgar trailing in her wake a terrifying threat to another innocent family….

As the investigation into the life and disappearance of Brian Nowak grows, old secrets are brought to light and new ones struggle to remain hidden.
Read an excerpt from Among the Departed, and learn more about the book and author at Vicki Delany's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: Among the Departed.

--Marshal Zeringue