Seven Days Dead: The Storm Murders Trilogy

The pseudonymous Farrow’s tedious sequel to 2015’s The Storm Murders finds retired Montreal police detective Émile Cinq-Mars and his wife, Sandra, vacationing on the Isle of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. Sandra is hopeful the couple’s first summer holiday together will be quiet and crime-free. Unfortunately, their arrival on Grand Manan coincides with the suspicious death of odious island patriarch Alfred Orrock and the grisly murder of Rev. Simon Lescavage, the man who heard Orrock’s final confession. Émile initially declines an invitation from the local Mounties to participate in the investigation, but relents when the prime suspect—Orrock’s estranged daughter, Maddy—makes a personal plea for his assistance. Farrow (Canadian author Trevor Ferguson) squanders an intriguing setup and an entertaining, Poirot-like protagonist with cartoonish supporting characters, cheesy dialogue, excessive exposition, and a convoluted solution. [em]Agents: Carolyn Forde and Bruce Westwood, Westwood Creative Artists (Canada). (May) [/em]