Murder at Gates Landing

Everyone despised Edgar Wheeler. He abused his wife, bullied his children, and cheated on his business associates. He was a monster, culpable but not prosecuted in three homicides. The homicides, separated by decades, were no less vile. Wheeler and company met for a retreat. His captive audience was present at the meetings he had convened to discuss expansion plans for his cable installation company, Optica. They were sequestered in the SeaVista Inn at Gates landing, located on an Island, reached only by boat or float plane. The gathering comprised company executives, some family, other employees, and legal representatives. Wheeler was Bludgeoned to death in classic Agatha Christie fashion, figuratively surrounded by suspects. Private Detective Cal Healy and RCMP Inspector Tony Montgomery investigated. Wheeler's wife, two children, two lawyers, the innkeeper, and a maid all had motives: some clear, and some shrouded by the passage of time. Before the investigation could gain traction, there was a second murder. Not a first choice for shortening a suspect list. It soon became clear that the theft from Beijing's Forbidden City of a jewelled cylinder called the Golden Octagon was integral to the case. As Chinese agents hunted the cylinder, the police pursued the killer, and their searches were sometimes aligned. But not always. The killer possessed the antiquity, and when the investigation was closing in on a panicky accomplice, the killer struck again. The bodies piled up as the police uncovered more motives-some, decades old. And more motives meant more suspects. Fallacious clues aimed at derailing the investigation were all over the criminal landscape. It was up to Cal Healy to unravel the clues, avoid the false trails, and discriminate between motives. Doug David writes crime novels.Murder at Gates Landing is Book Two of The Cal Healy Investigates series.