Anthony Bidulka

Merry Bell talked her boss into letting her set up a branch office of his PI firm when she left Vancouver and headed back to her home town of Livingsky, Saskatchewan. But even if things weren’t as expensive in the small town she moved to she still couldn’t afford to rent an office and an apartment. Which caused problems. But when she found her new landlord she got her first case only she wasn’t sure that was a good thing. She also didn’t realize how what had been left behind in Vancouver could nip her new life in the bud before it had time to grow. Not that things were going all that well as she stumbled on a conspiracy in good old "Livingsky".… (altro)

Merry has returned home to Livingsky after a having been working in Vancouver. Her caseload has been light, so she has been working as a security guard. She is happy when a new email hops in her inbox and she quickly has the cousin of quarterback, Dustin Thomson, as a new client. Dustin has gone missing and Merry is hired to help find him. As she looks into the background of the Indigenous celebrity sportsman, looking for any answers to questions the police seem reluctant to share. On a secondary thread, we meet Roger whose wife has a design company located next to Merry’s PI office. Roger is the host of a true crime podcast. Roger/Stella...pronoun he and she...would dearly love to become part of the team at LSI and ever anxious to impress and has started an independent investigation into some anonymous letters Merry received after she first arrived. We see aspects of Merry’s personal challenges with the emotional side of her transition and her feelings of isolation. We also explore Roger’s psyche as he struggles to rationalize his need to be both Stella the podcaster and Roger, the electrician who is also a husband and father. The reader is lead through the layers of the investigation as well as Roger/Stella's anxieties. I had a bit of a problem with the Shared thoughts of more than one character, but it didn't happen too often, nor did it distract from the overall impact of the story. I found this to be a well-written book with some repeat appearances from Merry’s adventures from the first book, although both the first and second book easily stands alone. I particularly liked the dynamic Merry is establishing with her new acquaintances and hopefully she will have more luck in attracting clients going forward.… (altro)

A very amusing story since I live in the place that's portrayed as Livingsky. Perhaps irrelevant to readers who are not familiar with this town, there were many moments of hilarity as I read out loud some of the not so much concealed identities: for example Alphabet City, St. Peter's Abbey Hospital, Merry's landlord (!!), etc. The characters are wonderfully idiosyncratic and the situations in which the main character (Merry Bell) found herself a fresh take on the situation of being nearly-homeless, and impoverished.

Not so enjoyable were the plodding passages that slowed the story-pacing. There was too much detail around the landlord persona and not very much backstory about Merry Bell or a seamless narrative involving a murder just as she left Vancouver for the prairies. Somehow this was a rather disjointed aspect of the novel. However, the dénouement was great: a subtle teaser, avoiding the pitfall of a cliffhanger. The next book (From Sweetgrass Bridge) will be very intriguing to see how Ms. Merry manages her budding PI career and navigates her continuing transition as a transgender gal in a potentially challenging local community.… (altro)

Merry Bell recently had gender affirming surgery to become a female.

There are two mysteries that take place in Livingsky. Merry was stated as being the murderer of her surgeon. Once she moves from Vancouver back to Livingsky, she is hired by her soon to be landlord to determine who sat fire to an apartment in one of his buildings.

Merry is forced to go back to Vancouver as the main suspect in the surgeon's death. While at the police station, she figured out who the real killer was and help the police catch them. She figured out the major and her assistant were tied to the apartment fire and was an attempt to make Gerald look as bad as his father. They were going to try and force him to sell so they could move forward for a project the major wanted.

Merry is still getting use to being a woman and having people like Roger (a cross dressing true crime podcast) and Gerald Drover (the landlord) who don't care that is a trans-woman is helping.

I really enjoyed Livingsky and will read more in the series.
… (altro)