Murder at Gates Landing

Description

Everyone despised Edgar Wheeler. He was a monster, culpable but not prosecuted in three homicides, separated by decades, but no less vile. He abused his wife and bullied his children. And he cheated his business associates. Wheeler and company met for a retreat. His captive audience was present at the meetings he’d 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 floatplane. Company executives, some of his family, other employees, and legal representatives, comprised the gathering. 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. That is not a first choice for shortening a suspect list. It soon became clear that the theft from Beijing’s Forbidden City of a jeweled cylinder called the Golden Octagon was integral to the case. As Chinese agents hunted the artifact, the police tracked the killer, and at times their searches were 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. Those, and some more recent, created an abundance of suspects. Fallacious clues aimed to derail 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.