This is a book I have had on my TBR pile for almost 10 years. Too bad I took so long to read it because I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately Jennings didn't do a follow up to this book although there is one starring Christine Morris before it. I may have to scout some Used Book Sales (if there ever are used book sales again).

Christine Morris lives and works in Orillia Ontario at the Behavioural Science Centre which is tasked with profiling offenders in serious crimes for the OPP. Jennings mentions a number of people at the Behavioural Science Centre who assisted her but an online search of the OPP doesn't show any such organization now so it probably has been rolled into some other branch. Dr. Leo Forgach is a forensic psychiatrist at the Centre and he calls Christine early one November morning to help him search for his daughter who did not return home last night. Deirdre does not live with Dr. Forgach; in fact there is something of an ongoing feud between them. However Deirdre, who is deaf, is the mother of a young child, also deaf, and she has a live-in nanny who reported her absence to Leo. Christine and Leo find Deirdre's body in the water of Lake Couchiching just beside a pier. She appears to have been strangled Christine gets involved with the investigation and finds that Deirdre had been the target of threatening letters after she appeared in the local paper saying she had deliberately gotten pregnant by a deaf man so that her child would be congenitally deaf. Also, the putative father appears to have shown up recently and he might have a motive to kill her. And then there is her half-brother who met her at the casino where she was playing blackjack the night she went missing and then lied about it. There are no lack of suspects.

I thought the information about Deaf Culture was interesting. Jennings also thanked several people who helped her with that aspect. Several friends know ASL; I'll have to ask them if they have heard of this book.

Jennings is the author of the books on which the wildly successful Murdoch Mysteries are based. I have not gotten into that show but I know some people who won't miss it. I may also have to check out some of the books from that series. ( )

Generally I enjoyed this second-in-the-series of Christine Morris books. This one is set in Orillia, Ontario, with only infrequent mentions of love-interest Gill back in the Hebrides. Downsides: I'd identified the murderer almost immediately and there were quite a few loose ends left hanging (I suppose this is inevitable in a series).There were quite a few typographical errors in the ebook I was reading - not sure if that's because it was an ebook or if they're in the printed version, too. ( )

This was a great Canadian mystery. It's nice to get out of my home country once in awhile!
Profilist Christine Morris tries to help solve the murder of her collegue's deaf daughter. There's a high focus on deaf culture. And in the meantime Christine tries to balance her own complicated life. I will go back and read the 1st in the series and eagerly await number 3. ( )

An excellent murder mystery, set in Orillia, Ontario. The title of the book is the deaf culture's sign for "kill" and this book is not only a fine mystery, but also gives one much knowledge about the deaf culture. I enjoyed it immensely ( )