Springtime in Winnipeg — James Coggins

When spring finally arrives in Winnipeg, the residents have a tendency to believe that they have earned it. After enduring six months of snow and numbing cold, a winter more fierce than that experienced by the inhabitants of almost any other city on earth, they emerge like shell-shocked soldiers from trench warfare. They stumble into April, a month of melting snow, thawing rivers, oozing mud, and hopeful signs. Snow gives way to rain. Migrating birds appear on the rivers. The trees swell in anticipation of new leaves. The first crocuses appear above the earth. And the lifeless bodies of beautiful young women are discovered lying near the paths in the woods along the Assiniboine River next to Assiniboine University. The fourth John Smyth mystery skillfully intertwines two elements -- a murder mystery and an academic discussion of the nature of the mystery novel. When John Smyth, the diminutive editor of Grace magazine, returns to school to obtain a journalism degree, he encounters a variety of interesting characters. He enrolls in a course on murder mysteries. He debates a combative professor who challenges his faith. He is accepted into a study group of students half his age, working together on a puzzling assignment. And, as usual, he can't help getting involved in murder.