cover image Why Was Rachel Murdered?

Why Was Rachel Murdered?

Bill Prentice. Echo Road, $13.99 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-7753337-0-8

Prentice’s taut debut draws the reader into the world of Ponzi schemes, money laundering, political corruption, and greed. When a killer snaps the neck of financial consultant Rachel Lisgar, who’s also a professor of advanced mathematics, on her return home to Toronto from New York City, where she uncovered some troubling information about a Manhattan-based investment firm, the client who sent her to New York, Janos Pach, hires PI Neil Walker to investigate. Neil, a former Mountie who specialized in financial crimes, is soon at odds with the victim’s powerful and wealthy family, particularly her aunt, Isabelle Lisgar, “Canada’s pre-eminent female entrepreneur” and “a fierce backroom power broker in the Conservative Party.” When an American, with whom Rachel spoke the day of her murder, is killed, the FBI and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency enter the picture, as do a Russian oligarch, a Chinese arms dealer, and a shady Spanish businessman. Prentice’s complicated but enjoyable thriller provides some insight into current real-life headlines about international criminal activity. (BookLife)