Writer, Skylar Whelan, returns home after a disastrous marriage. Although she craves peace and solitude, a place to finish her novel and heal her wounds, she is soon lured back into small town life. Its secrets and lies. A place where trusting the wrong person could be deadly.
Later, a crime from the past with a personal connection to Skye uncovers old tensions. Conflicts. She is eager to help Noah Rimes, a newcomer tasked with solving the mystery. But can he trust her? Knowing her questionable history she can't blame him for being suspicious of her motives. He may even think she is a killer!
As time wears on, dark forces work behind the scenes to disrupt the investigation. Skye becomes the target of those who want to cover up a wrongdoing. Would kill for that to happen.
With the clock ticking, the possibility of real harm to Skye escalating, she must decide whether to flee or stay and face the evil she left behind. Discover how far someone would go to protect the life they thought they deserved.
Events gallop towards a shocking conclusion nobody saw coming!
Perfect for fans of small town mysteries, coastal suspense and twisty endings.
Writer, Skylar Whelan, returns home after a disastrous marriage. Although she craves peace and solitude, a place to finish her novel and heal her wounds, she is soon lured back into small town life. Its secrets and lies. A place where trusting the wrong person could be deadly.
Later, a crime from the past with a personal connection to Skye uncovers old tensions. Conflicts. She is eager to help Noah Rimes, a newcomer tasked with solving the mystery. But can he trust her? Knowing her questionable history she can't blame him for being suspicious of her motives. He may even think she is a killer!
As time wears on, dark forces work behind the scenes to disrupt the investigation. Skye becomes the target of those who want to cover up a wrongdoing. Would kill for that to happen.
With the clock ticking, the possibility of real harm to Skye escalating, she must decide whether to flee or stay and face the evil she left behind. Discover how far someone would go to protect the life they thought they deserved.
Events gallop towards a shocking conclusion nobody saw coming!
Perfect for fans of small town mysteries, coastal suspense and twisty endings.
Steve Hungerford inhaled the crisp, Sunshine Coast air.
From high up on the excavator, he surveyed the Inlet below, purples and
browns of the distant hills reflecting off the greenish- blue of the water. He
smiled to himself.
He was on top of the world in more ways than one.
Hungerford and Sons Construction was well- respected up and down the
Coast. At the moment they were at the start of a new contract, the last one
barely completed. A subdivision of high-end view homes on the outskirts of
Sechelt.
The Sunshine Coast was a best- kept secret, accessible from Vancouver
only by ferry, boat or floatplane. A one-hundred-eighty kilometer stretch of
mini paradise on the coast of British Columbia between Howe Sound in the
south, and the entrance to Desolation Sound in the northwest. Several
quaint and pretty villages dot the landscape from Langford, where the ferry
from the mainland docks, to Egmont at the tip of the peninsula.
In the last few years Steve had been able to build on his fatherās
business. Retirees from Vancouver or back east seeking a quieter lifestyle
were sold if they had a water view from their front rooms. A proven recipe
that had done well for the company. Developers were providing plenty of
work. But theyād had to move farther outside the city limits to find
available property and, at times, it was challenging to get enough
tradespeople.
After permits were in place, Steveās company had begun the dusty job
of digging the holes where eight new homes would go. He whistled just
thinking of the million dollar view they would have from up there on a
cliffside.
And the million dollars plus price tag.
On the ground below, his foreman Joe Kosinski used his hand as a visor
to defray the morning sun. His forehead creased.
āWhat are you doing up there, Boss?ā he asked, cutting into Steveās
thoughts. āWhereās Rob?ā
Joe was middle-aged with the beginnings of a beer gut, like so many of
the workers. But that fact didnāt trump his managerās considerable
experience. Building smarts. The company was currently excavating an old
gravel pit that had been purchased by a developer friend of Steveās to make
way for the new structures. Jobsite infringements could close work down
quicker than a crime scene. Time was money and Joe knew the rules inside
out.
āPhoned in sick today,ā Steve replied, āandā¦ aw, what the heckā¦
thought Iād go back in time.ā
Joe grinned. āThink you can still run that beast?ā
Steve had kept his license updated in order to help out in an emergency,
but hadnāt actually driven the excavator for a couple of years.
He nodded. āYup, muscle memory will kick in once I get going.ā
Most of Steveās daily job consisted of procuring building permitsāan
onerous and frustrating experience. Managing the budget, the hiring and
firing of employees. He missed the raw grunt work of running heavy-duty,
oversized machinery. Getting his hands dirty and wearing a hard hat. It
would be a lark to operate the giant piece of equipment like he used to.
Besides, nobody else was available on short notice.
Staying on the Coast after high school had been a no-brainer.
Construction work was all Steve had ever wanted to do. As a child heād
gravitated towards books about trucks, tractors and diggers. His interest had
never wavered. After graduation, heād stepped seamlessly into the family
business, gradually taking on more responsibilities. In Trail, a small town in
the southeast of British Columbia, heād attended a training school. Learned
how to operate large machinery. His father believed in employeesāeven
his own son āstarting from the ground up. Steve hoped his own boy would
follow suit.
Mind you, heād have to wait a few years. Ryan was just five.
Steve was putting on his ear protection when Joe caught his attention
with a wave of his arm.
āForgot my headset,ā his foreman said, shaking his head.
Steve gave him the high sign, sat back and laid the earphones on his lap.
āWhile youāre in there,ā he said to Joe, ātell my dad to quit jawing with
the workers so we can make some money.ā
His foreman chuckled as he headed towards the trailer that served as a
temporary office and lunchroom. āWill do.ā
In the next decade after Steve started working, the business had
flourished before his father officially retired. It was a family joke, however,
that the patriarch never really stopped. Spent most days snooping around
the construction sites where his son was now boss. Tossing out the
occasional suggestion. Or criticism. At the moment, Steveās father was
eating lunch in the trailer at the side of the property. Chewing the fat with a
couple of the older guys.
After graduation, Steve had been heartbroken when most of his
classmates had moved to the mainland or further afield for school or work.
In the small community, friends were like family. Steveās closeknit inner
circle had done everything together. Campfires and beach parties,
watersports, hiking and off-road. Even study sessions. At first, heād kept up
with a few of them, the odd phone call or email, until life took over. Now he
heard only snatches of gossip from the grapevine. Instagram or Facebook.
Waiting for Joe, for a fleeting moment he thought of his high school
girlfriend. First loves were hard to forget. Impossible actually, although
heād never let Angie know that. It would be hurtful and he truly did love his
wife and the two children sheād given him. Since then, the population had
shifted, residents come and gone. For the most part, few people
remembered those years now. Heād run into Skye Whelanās father at the
hardware store the week before. His old girlfriendās bestie was back in town
from Calgary. Staying at her parentsā house in Davis Bay. When he had
time, heād have to get in touch. Do a catchup on their lives.
Soon Joe appeared, headset in hand. He and the foreman were more
friends than boss and employee after working together for the last ten years.
He looked up at Steve. āI hear running that thing is like riding a horse,ā
he said, smiling. āYou never forget.ā
āUnfortunately, I never did learn to ride one, so hope thatās not a bad
omen. At least thereās less chance of getting bucked off.ā
He replaced his ear protection, put on his orange hardhat. Started up the
excavator, enjoying the roar of the engine as it came to life. Most of the
time, Steve felt he just barked orders to his men. They saw him as an
overseer of blueprints and spreadsheets. Being management brought with it
a natural division between him and the workers, no matter how much they
liked each other. Felt good to be one of them, if only for a day.
Joe stood, headset on, and then catching his bossā eye, indicated by a
loop made with his arm the section to be dug. Steve gave a signal he was
ready. Hoisted the giant shovel into the air, nudging the controls. Then
maneuvered the excavator into place in front of the target pile of rubble. His
foreman gave him a wave and a thumbs -up, knowing they were both on
board with what needed to be done.
Steve lowered the arm, digging the metal scoop into the pile of rocks,
his earphones silencing the grating noise of metal on granite. He clawed in
farther. Jiggled it back and forth until it was filled to the top, clouds of dust
flying off in the process. Then lifting the cup up again, Steve turned the
machine around, moved it a few feet. Dumped its contents into a container
pod which would eventually be attached to a truck and taken to a landfill.
He took a minute to remove his hat, wipe his brow. Give Joe a chance to
get organized for the next dive. Then Steve turned the monster machine
back to the rock pile, slowly heading over to the next patch to repeat the
process. But for some reason Joe was directly in his way. The sound of the
engine was thunderous, drowning out all conversation. Steve was puzzled.
His back to him, the foreman was bent over looking intently at the just
cleared area, preventing his boss from going in for a second load.
Steve waited patiently, wondering what the holdup was. Joe pivoted.
Turned around and looked him in the eye through the front window of the
excavator, his complexion gone pale. He raised his hand like a traffic cop.
āWhat theā¦?ā Steve said, more to himself.
Keeping eye contact with him, Joe took a step sideways. Unblocked the
section in question. By then, Steveās curiosity was piqued. His eyes zeroed
in on the spot Joe had been covering with his body. He leaned in. Squinted.
At first, it looked like an oddly- shaped rock.
Until he saw the curve of a cheekbone.
He blinked. For a split second Steve Hungerford couldnāt believe what
he was seeing.
Half-exposed in the newly-cleared gravel, the empty eye sockets of a
skull stared back at him.
The Throwback is the second book by author C.S. Cowan in her riveting West Coast Mystery series, a series tied together by its Canadian Sunshine Coast setting rather than recurring characters, so it works perfectly as a standalone. This entry features a mystery writer, Skylar "Skye" Whelan, who returns to her small coastal hometown of Sechelt after her financial advisor husband is revealed as a conman who's bilked his senior citizen clients out of their retirement funds. Skye plans to focus on her next novel and keep a low profile, but finds herself drawn into a decade-old disappearance that someone doesn't want her meddling in.
Skye Whelan is a wounded soul after her husband betrays his clients, and the victims and the public find it hard to believe she wasn't in on his scheme. She dropped her married name and returned to Sechelt, hoping to fade from the limelight and the public's memory. Still, her notoriety keeps following her. The discovery of bones at a local construction site brings her to the attention of the new RCMP supervising detective, Staff Sergeant Noah Rimes, who replaced her father in that position on his retirement from the service. There is an immediate connection between her and Noah, but her unfortunate past colors their budding relationship.
Noah has a complicated and tragic past as well. His career move from Vancouver to this small coastal outpost is an attempt at a second chance at life. He's settling in but is concerned about whether he will fit into the slower pace of his new jurisdiction. However, he is soon facing a baffling rash of petty break-ins and incidents of vandalism, when he really needs to focus on the newly uncovered murder.
Along with strong characters, the story is complex, featuring twists and turns everywhere and some seemingly unconnected subplots. There is a storyline involving two inept young criminals that is particularly absorbing, and their unexpected relevance to the bigger picture really had me fooled. However, while the narrative included understandable, easy-to-follow flashbacks, a couple of scenes in the present-day timeline seemed out of order. While these instances made me question what I had previously read, they didn't affect the plot's trajectory. For example, an injured pet is rushed to the vet, only to reappear next, frolicking on the beach with a neighbor's dog, with no mention of the medical emergency. A chapter or so later, the emergency incident comes back up, and the dog is recuperating, not yet up to any frolicking. Still, the story returned to page-turner status, keeping me reading and engaged until the final reveal.
I recommend THE THROWBACK to readers of mystery, suspense, and thrillers, especially those craving an intriguing West Coast Canadian setting.