Review of "Barrington Street Blues" by Anne Emery

Here's a whodunit fan's whodunit. What looked at first like a murder-suicide may, in fact, be a double murder. Corey Leaman had recently been released from a drug treatment program shortly before going to the home of the wealthy Graham Scott and apparently shot him to death before turning the gun on himself. The police are happy because everything falls into place for them, but for attorney Monty Collins, the situation isn't nearly as clear-cut. Collins suspects that both men were murdered. He's been hired to sue the drug treatment program for releasing Leaman too soon. His investigation takes him to the seemy side of Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada where the truth is a very scarce commodity and everybody has an angle. There are rumors of a series of parties where the drugs were flowing as freely as the booze, and half the people he talks to seem to be trying to cover it all up.

The story is tightly drawn and keeps you interested from cover to cover with fully-formed characters, and a few charicatures. Anne Emery's first novel is bound to be noticed by critics and mystery lovers alike who will be keeping an eye out for her next effort.