Books by Sky Curtis

After dealing with the grizzly murder of a sexual assault victim near her cottage in Huntsville, Ontario, Robin MacFarland, the feisty Home and Garden reporter for a major Toronto paper, feels she must go elsewhere for a peaceful family holiday. She, her cop boyfriend Ralph, and her adult kids, travel to the beautiful long sand beaches on the South Shore of Nova Scotia for a few weeks in August. She continues to tussle hilariously with her weight, drinking, feelings towards her boyfriend, and spiritually while coping with a dry well in the cottage she's rented, systemic racism issues in the local population, and escalating anger towards the fish farms dotted along the shore which are destroying the lobster industry. A sensational murder of a local politician coupled with the "accidental" death of the owner of the fish farms captures her interest. When she mentions the situation to her editor at the Toronto Express, her best friend Cindy, a crime reporter at the paper, is dispatched to cover the story. Again, Robin finds herself in the position of convincing everyone that the accidental death was no accident, that the two deaths are intertwined, and that the murder weapon is extremely ironic.

Finalist for the 2018 Arthur Eliis Award for Best First Crime NovelRobin MacFarland is a somewhat eccentric and highly intelligent journalist for the Home and Garden section of a Toronto paper, who at age fifty-five looks aghast in the mirror and pronounces herself, "Old. Fat. Alcoholic. Alone. Failure." She resolves to lose weight, quit drinking, and try online dating, although not, perhaps in quite that order. The intrigue begins when Robin chooses to cover a water cooling system conference where she thinks there will be a lot of men. By coincidence, her first online date is with the owner of the water company who is found dead after they have coffee. Dauntless, Robin wades into what is now a murder investigation, under the supervision of her new editor, and with the help of her best friend, Cindy, a crime reporter. The novel is framed around a plot to steal Canada's fresh water, but it hinges on Robin's hilarious journey through the middle portion of her life, a serious social issue, and a highly ironic murder weapon.