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Cover of Darkness at the Stroke of Noon

Darkness at the Stroke of Noon

by Dennis Murphy

RCMP Sergeant Booker Kennison knows more dirt than an officer should and has been exiled by his superiors to duty in Yellowknife. When a flash fire claims the lives of two archaeologists at a dig on remote Victory Island in Nunavut, Kennison is dispatched to investigate in a cold wilderness where winter’s grip and 24-hour darkness are closing in fast.

Ruby Cruz, ex-FBI agent, is also on her way north, sent to protect the interests of the American corporation that funded the dig. Those interests include Dr. Karl Kniesser and a 160-year-old journal he has secretly cut from the clothing of a frozen corpse. The journal contains the secrets of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition and may hold the key to controlling the Northwest Passage today. But when Ruby arrives, she finds Kniesser dead and the prized journal missing.

As the ice moves in and supplies grow scarce, Kennison confirms that the two deaths are murders, and the hunt for their killer begins -- until Kennison himself becomes a target of a secretive assassin lurking in the barren landscape. Threatened from all sides, Kennison must solve two mysteries before time and light run out.

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Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Date: 2011

ISBN: 9781554683222

Location: Victory Island, Nunavut; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Sub-genres: Suspense , Police Procedural , Rural

About The Author

Dennis Richard Murphy was a multifaceted individual known for his contributions to film, television, and literature. He was a successful writer, director, producer, and teacher, with a documentary series that reached 70 countries in 33 languages. Murphy's short stories were published in prestigious magazines like Ellery Queen's and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazines, and he won the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story in 2007. Murphy's work was recognized with the title "25 of the Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories!" in 2007. Unfortunately, Murphy passed away in June 2008, shortly after completing his final project, "Darkness at the Break of Noon."

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