A Chill Rain in January — Laurali R. Wright / L.R. Wright

A Canadian cop is up against a local femme fatale in a thriller of “fierce suspense” that launched the Fox TV and Hulu series Murder in a Small Town (Publishers Weekly).

It's sunny days for Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg, even as everyone else in Canada is shivering. The magnificent Cassandra Mitchell, who has a disconcerting habit of disappearing from both the town of Sechelt and Alberg's bed, has appeared once again. And though Alberg is effectively the police chief, the most pressing thing on his desk right now is the spunky old lady who has apparently absconded from her retirement home -- most likely in search of a good martini.

But a storm is brewing for Alberg, just a few miles down the peninsula. Zoe Strachan, Sechelt's newest resident, is the sort of enigmatic seductress who could get away with murder. And when her ne'er-do-well brother takes a fatal tumble down her basement steps, it's time for Zoe to wrap the local law enforcement around her little finger. And while Alberg is certainly nobody's fool, this case has him tied up in knots.