National Network for Equitable Library Service

Richard Gould was looking forward to his retirement, to spending at least part of his time in the heritage home he had renovated in a quiet village in Ontario, and particularly to his major project—bringing a ruin back to its former glory as a flour mill. The discovery of two old books hidden in the ruin promised to add extra spice to this project, until he was drawn into events that were at first odd, then ominous, and all too soon lethal. Inexorably, Gould was carried deeper into a dangerous web and finally to a murderous encounter near the historic German city of Heidelberg.

The Walking Man begins in the deserts of Jordan and explores a year in the life of the main character - someone very similar to the author - and his attempts to make sense of a tumultuous year. Based on many of the author's experiences, The Walking Man mixes reality and fiction in a tale of heartbreak, friendship, and personal history that uses walking to thread it all together.

When tragedy strikes, thirteen-year-old Maddy Barnes's life shatters. Torn from her family and village, she finds herself out on the mean streets of Toronto in the 1970s, a gritty twilight world of street kids, speed freaks, glam rockers, body rub parlours and a vicious biker named Hermann. But Toronto is also the centre of Canada's emerging gay revolution. As men and women start coming out of the shadows, Maddy confronts the shadows of her own past, and ultimately comes to understand that sometimes there's no explaining the unspeakable things we do for love.

Sick of covering weddings, birthdays, and protests, photographer Madelyn Hathaway grabs her camera and heads out in the forests of Nova Scotia, looking for inspiration. She finds it and more when her foray into nature photography leads her to discover something thought lost to history. As her husband and friends step in to manage the repercussions, Madelyn delves into an exploration of freedom, history, and responsibility to the natural world that culminates in a decision to fight for what she believes is right. Though it might be too late.

Patiently Waiting For… is the story of the indomitable, feisty, and subversive Ruth, who, having quadriplegia, longs to access a wider world through use of available software and a computer. She decides to almost run over, with her power chair, a physician who is also a writer of health-related social justice plays and ask him to write her story. What results is this powerful indictment of the inequality of care and diminishing access to accommodation that has widened the divide between those who can afford to pay for health promotion and those who cannot.

Root Causes is a dramatic murder mystery that begins when Clare’s fiancé, Leo, dies in a tragic car accident. Clare soon discovers that his death, and his life, may not have been what they seem. Caught up in a maelstrom of events and now fleeing for her life, Clare escapes to Leo’s secret, unfinished vineyard. The mystery of Leo’s life grows even darker when two men are murdered and Clare becomes the prime suspect. The quiet and reserved Clare becomes an unlikely heroine as she strives to figure out Leo’s ties to the dead men and why someone now wants her dead.

Vanessa, a freelance writer who grew up in Spain, is fleeing the pain of an unravelling relationship when she goes to her grandmother's house on Canada's east coast, near Oak Island. Her discovery of a 400-year-old diary written by a failed Spanish Dominican monk rekindles her obsession with an international, multi-million dollar treasure hunt that has drawn investors, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, from Canada, the United States, and Europe for more than two hundred years.

The Yukon, 1907. North America’s last untamed frontier. Dawson City has reached its tipping point. The citizens, and the people they count on to protect them, now live under the brutal control of Eric Morgan, a violent gang leader. Morgan’s power has only grown since the days of the Klondike Gold Rush, and he now prepares for his greatest score yet. Dawson’s salvation rests with Inspector Richard Carol, who will lead a team of Mounties to liberate the city. But can he trust his own people? And with so many of his own battles to fight, can Richard trust himself?

It’s been a rocky couple of weeks for Jim Sanford. He’s had to deal with two life-changing deaths – first his mother, and then the man who combined father figure and best friend since his boyhood. Sanford travels back to his hometown, Stanley Falls, deep in rural Ontario to deal with his friend’s estate. But what he finds does not seem normal. He uncovers a side of his friend that is new and unknown. From beyond the grave he is led to a coded message, numbered envelopes, and a dead body. His ex-wife, back in Toronto, is attacked and killed.

When the folk rock group Hearts of Flame broke up Ruby and the other members gravitate from Alberta to Toronto. The booming city at the end of the eighties offers all these outsiders a way to thrive. Then Ruby disappears. The police fail to turn up any leads. From the glass towers of Toronto's business elite to the shattered dreams of the city's street people, Blair searches for her friend. She finds only questions. Portrait of a city and a generation, HEARTS OF FLAME is a novel about friendship and loss.