The Corpse Will Keep — Pat Capponi

Fresh from the success of solving the murder of a roommate, Private Investigator Dana Leoni and her unlikely crew of misfit sleuths have opened a detective agency in the run-down Delta Court rooming house. Genuine clients are hard to come by until a friend from Dana's past contacts her for help. He suspects his wealthy mother is being bilked in her charitable efforts to help the homeless. Though Dana is reluctant to reconnect with her past, she knows this world well -- the church basements and halls where the indigent seek shelter and a hot meal. On the hunt for information, Dana soon falls in with a darkly charismatic church volunteer who is much more dangerous than he first appears. Set in two contrasting neighbourhoods -- seedy Parkdale and posh Rosedale -- the story's events vault from extortion to kidnapping to murder. Dana must rely on the underrated skills of her housemates to help her catch a ruthless killer.

With her skilful portrayal of characters who may be down but are never out, Pat Capponi once again brings to life a world few of us know. In Dana Leoni, Capponi has created one of the most likeable -- and vulnerable -- investigators in crime fiction.