these are so “page-turnable” .
the women are drawn “better than the men” but they meet their perfect foils in everyone they encounter . ( )

Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police heads an investigation into the murder of a woman in a secluded area near Sechelt, in British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. The woman had no identification, and she was a stranger to local residents. Or was she? In the first book in the series, Alberg developed an interest in librarian Cassandra Mitchell, but nothing came of it. Her current boyfriend, actor Roger Galbraith, reacts strangely to the news of the stranger's murder. Does he know more than he's willing to admit?

In the first book in this series, the identity of the murderer is known to the reader from the beginning of the book, and the suspense is psychological. This book is a more typical whodunnit. Alberg took longer than I did to identify the murderer, but he eventually got there. I like Alberg, but I'm not sure yet about Cassandra. I'm not sure that she deserves him. I'll make up my mind later. I enjoy the setting and atmosphere in this series, and it's one I'll continue to read. ( )

The second in the Karl Alberg series, and a rattling good suspense novel. It has less impact that "The Suspect", the first in the series, largely because we have already been introduced to the milieu and to the two central characters -- policeman Karl Alberg, and his sometimes girlfriend. Also, like "The Suspect", the crux of the book are the psychological studies of some key characters. But even if it there are echoes of the earlier book, this is a satisfactory thriller on its own. ( )

#2 in the series (1986) with RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg and his librarian friend Cassandra Mitchell.
This one won the Arthur Ellis Award for best crime fiction. ( )