Review: VALLEY OF THE LOST, Vicki Delany

Poisoned Pen Press, February 2009, ISBN 978-1-59058-596-2, 291 pages

After a long and hectic day at the Trafalgar Women's Support Center Lucky Smith is savouring the peace of the quiet valley town. That's when she hears the soft cry and discovers baby Miller in the bushes alongside his dead mother. The call to police emergency goes to Lucky's daughter Moonlight, Probationary Constable Molly Smith.

The police autopsy concludes that the dead woman Ashley has died from a heroin overdose, that at some stage, not recently, she had been a regular user, but the restraint marks on her wrists and ankles cast suspicion on the manner of her death.

Lucky Smith decides to take the baby home with her until his family can be located. This act in itself causes tension in the Smith household. And then Lucky resists attempts by the representative of the Child and Youth Services, a recent arrival in the town, to take him into care.

VALLEY OF THE LOST surprised me with the complexity of its well teased out plot and interesting characters. It is the second in what the blurb calls "a traditional mystery series" featuring Molly Smith, her boss Sergeant Winters, and the town in the shadow of the glacier, Trafalgar, British Columbia. I actually feel very priveleged to have read this in ARC format.

My rating: 4.3

• Read an excerpt from the first chapter
• Vicki's website
• Vicki blogs on Fridays at Type M for Murder

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Books to look for by Vicki Delany
IN THE SHADOW OF THE GLACIER, 2007
BURDEN OF MEMORY, 2006
SCARE THE LIGHT AWAY, 2005
WHITEOUT, 2001 - recently re-released, and an Eppie Award winner in 2001

Coming in 2009:
GOLD DIGGER - A KLONDIKE MYSTERY