Erasing Memory: A MacNeice Mystery

by Scott Thornley

Overview

The heart—pounding first installment of the MacNeice Mysteries, featuring a sophisticated detective solving the horrific murder of a beautiful young violinist — perfect for fans of Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks series.

Detective Superintendent MacNeice is returning from a pilgrimage to his wife’s grave when he’s called to a crime scene of singular and disturbing beauty. A young woman in evening dress lies gracefully posed on the floor of a pristine summer cottage so that the finger of one hand regularly interrupts the needle arm of a phonograph playing Schubert’s Piano Trio. The only visible mark on her is the bruise under her chin, which MacNeice recognizes: it is the mark that distinguishes dedicated violinists, the same mark that once graced his wife. The murder is both ingenious and horrific, and soon entangles MacNeice and his team in Eastern Europe’s ancient grievances…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487003296
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press
Publication date:	06/26/2018
Series:	The MacNeice Mysteries , #1
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

SCOTT THORNLEY grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, which inspired his fictional Dundurn. He is the author of five novels in the critically acclaimed MacNeice Mysteries series: Erasing Memory, The Ambitious City, Raw Bone, Vantage Point, and Middlemen. He was appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 1990. In 2018, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Thornley divides his time between Toronto and the southwest of France.

Read an Excerpt

It was the same as it always was, chamber music driving up and jazz driving back. But this time he’d asked her, “Why do you want to be buried so far from town?” Kate had smiled and closed her eyes — for such a while that he thought she’d fallen asleep — then softly, but with some strength, as if to ensure that the point made it through the haze of morphine and fatigue, she said, “It’s beautiful there. It’s a lovely drive. Not too far. I know you’ll visit. And” — breathing deeply — “if it was in the city, I doubt you would. Anyway, it’ll get you out of your head for a few hours.” She was right. He’d been up once a month for the past thirty—eight months. When he’d looked at her ashes, he couldn’t see the difference between them and the ashes he retrieved from the fireplace to sprinkle on the garden — he couldn’t reassemble her. And yet, below the ground, beneath a headstone that bore only her initials, KGWM, he could imagine her on her side with her legs slightly tucked up — asleep. And it did get him out of his head. A cemetery in the city could never do that — the sound of sirens, the headstones of people they’d known, the buzz of traffic nearby would distract from the solace of being near her.

He stayed this time, as always, past sundown, reading, watching for birds and announcing each out loud for the odd comfort it gave him — cedar waxwing, swallow, cardinal, chickadee, a rare ruby—throated hummingbird — not because he truly believed she would hear, but because he didn’t entirely disbelieve it. The kitchen of Martha’s Truck Stop stayed open till ten, and on the way back he stopped and ordered the same thing he always did: a hot beef sandwich with gravy, no fries, followed by apple pie and coffee.

He was just cresting the Canadian Shield above Lake Charles when the call came over the radio. “All units. All units. We have an anonymous call about a fatality in a beach house on Shore Road, Lake Charles.”

MacNeice pressed the hands—free button. “The caller — male or female?”

“Male. Over.”

“Did he sound agitated, Sylvia?”

“No, Mac. Cool as a cucumber, not hurried or concerned. Over.”

“Describe his voice — north—end, west—end, local, foreign?”

“I’d say foreign, but very educated in English. You can judge for yourself when you hear it. Over.”

“Thanks, Syl. I’m about five minutes away from the cut—off to Lake Charles.”

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Not since P. D. James’s Adam Dalgliesh has there been a police inspector as sophisticated as MacNeice.” — Toronto Star



“The reader is . . . compelled to go on, in part because that killer, if not a superior, twisted mind, is a first-class jerk and we love to see such people get their comeuppance.” — National Post



“Thornley’s intelligent and evocative prose, combined with his depictions of complex police investigations, brings to mind one of Canada’s most prominent, bestselling crime writers, Peter Robinson.” — Quill & Quire



“This series will be a real winner.” — Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail



“A page-turner with a Sherlockian twist.” — Hamilton Spectator



“An auspicious debut for author Scott Thornley.” — Salon



“MacNeice is a splendid addition to the pantheon of [literary] detectives. . . . A first-class mystery.” — Vancouver Sun



“For crime fiction junkies, Scott Thornley’s first novel, Erasing Memory, a beautifully written police procedural set in a fictional version of Hamilton, just whets our appetite for more. Our hero, senior homicide detective Mac MacNeice, a literate and complex man who may remind the reader of Peter Robinson’s beloved Inspector Banks, runs an interesting team of investigators dealing with a truly weird murder. Please tell me this is the first of a series.” — Stevie Cameron, author of On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women



“Beginning with a murder unlike any you've ever imagined — or would want to — Scott Thornley spins a gripping tale whose heroes and villains are equally and refreshingly human.” — Howard Shrier, author of Buffalo Jump

Stevie Cameron

For crime fiction junkies, Scott Thornley’s first novel, Erasing Memory, a beautifully written police procedural set in a fictional version of Hamilton, just whets our appetite for more. Our hero, senior homicide detective Mac MacNeice, a literate and complex man who may remind the reader of Peter Robinson’s beloved Inspector Banks, runs an interesting team of investigators dealing with a truly weird murder. Please tell me this is the first of a series.

Editorial Reviews

[An] impressive debut . . . Superb writing, complex and highly likable characters, and the occasional delicious burst of violence definitely make the next books in this series worth watching for.” — Publisher's Weekly

“This series will be a real winner.” — Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail

“Not since P. D. James’s Adam Dalgliesh has there been a police inspector as sophisticated as MacNeice.” — Toronto Star

“The reader is . . . compelled to go on, in part because that killer, if not a superior, twisted mind, is a first—class jerk and we love to see such people get their comeuppance.” — National Post

From the Publisher

The reader is . . . compelled to go on, in part because that killer, if not a superior, twisted mind, is a first-class jerk and we love to see such people get their comeuppance.

National Post

Not since P. D. James’s Adam Dalgliesh has there been a police inspector as sophisticated as MacNeice.

Toronto Star

[An] impressive debut . . . Superb writing, complex and highly likable characters, and the occasional delicious burst of violence definitely make the next books in this series worth watching for.

Publisher's Weekly

This series will be a real winner.

Globe and Mail - Margaret Cannon