Kaleidoscope

A Globe and Mailbestseller in its first week, the thirteenth in Gail Bowen's beloved Joanne Kilbourn mystery series is the best of them all: very bad things happen very close to home, and Joanne may never be quite the same again. Further international acclaim for Kaleidoscope: "A pitched battle over the redevelopment of a troubled area of town reminds Joanne Kilbourn that her beloved Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada, is prone to all the troubles of modern cities, including murder. . . . As usual in Joanne's world [there are] the celebrations of ongoing life: two weddings, a child birth, several parties and a great deal of civilized but enthusiastic connubial sex." - Kirkus Reviews "Bowen is a charming, social-minded writer. I admire her ability to narrate Saskatchewan - its beauties and barbarities. As many times as I got excited because I recognized some place from the city I was born in, I was just as ashamed for the us-versus-them tendencies Bowen relates: rich versus poor, white versus aboriginal, family versus business. And yet, the characters Bowen imagines have depth, good intentions that pave the potholed city of Regina. Sure, for marketing sake, Kaleidoscopeis a mystery - a good one too. But more so, Bowen is a pundit and socially conscious artist. The commentary and dynamic plot within this novel hold with perfect geometry and colourful ideas viewed through Bowen's lens." - Devin Pacholik, Global News Regina/Patches and Pages blog

GAIL BOWEN's first Joanne Kilbourn mystery, Deadly Appearances (1990), was nominated for the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada Best First Novel Award. Following that, A Colder Kind of Death (1995) won the Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel; in 2008 Reader's Digest named Bowen Canada's Best Mystery Novelist; in 2009 she received the Derrick Murdoch Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. Bowen has also written plays that have been produced across Canada and on CBC Radio. Now retired from teaching at the First Nations University, Bowen lives in Regina. www.gailbowen.com.