BOOK: The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe, 419 pages

Canadian Book Challenge; RIP 7

You have to like a crime novel whose main character is a 61 year old divorced woman, heading up the local police station in small town Ontario. The Calling was released in 2008, with the understanding that Inger Ash Wolfe was a pseudonym of a famous 'literary' Canadian author. In July of this year, after writing The Taken and the recently released A Door in the River, Michael Redhill revealed that he has been writing the Hazel Micallef series.

Hazel is a wonderfully complex character dealing with many changes in her life (divorce after thirty-four years of marriage, living with her mother, bad back, drinking problem) as well as the politics of policing. Her small town deals with the usual type of crime, so when an elderly woman is found murdered, Hazel is faced with a crime she hasn't had to investigate often. It appears to be an assisted suicide. The crime scenes are vividly described and quite graphic, and as more crimes are discovered, it gets worse and worse. Alternately, the reader gets chapters about the serial killer, and his progress across Canada. A truly Canadian novel - coast to coast! The serial killer is one sick puppy.

A good crime series for me has characters in the police department I like and want to know more about. Here we have Hazel, as well as a couple of young cops, Wingate and Sevigny, that I am anxious to read more about. How will Wingate and Sevigny become a team with Hazel? All of them are quick to go their own way and step outside of accepted practice. Can they learn to work together and how much trouble are they all in after their methods in solving this crime?

also reviewed: Gavin at page 247;