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Five Crows Silver
This is author Vernon Oickle's highly anticipated fifth book in his acclaimed Crow series. An international hit with a distinctive Maritime flavour, Five Crows Silver is a riveting, taut crime drama that will keep you guessing to the last page. When young girls go missing throughout Nova Scotia, Liverpool RCMP Corporal Cliff Graham and special investigator Sergeant Greg Paris come to realize they are playing a game of cat and mouse. The question is who is the cat, and who is the mouse.
300 pages, Paperback
Published March 9, 2017
13 people want to read
About the author
Vernon Oickle
43 books13 followersVernon Oickle lives in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He studied journalism in Lethbridge, Alberta and upon his graduation in 1982, he returned to his hometown to begin his newspaper career. Since then, Vernon has won many regional, national and international awards for writing and photography. In 2012, he won the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors’ Golden Quill Award for best editorial writing, becoming only the third Canadian and the first Nova Scotian to win this honour since it was first presented in 1961.
Today, he is the editor of the nationally award-winning newspaper, The Lunenburg County Progress Bulletin in Bridgewater. Since October 1995 he has been writing the popular and award winning column, The Editor’s Diary. Helping to shape and influence public opinion on a wide range of topics that over time, his writing increasingly touches a populist nerve by airing topics important to his readers.
In addition to being an award winning journalist and editor, Vernon is the author of 18 books, many of which collect and preserve the heritage and culture of Atlantic Canada. In 2010 he launched a series of novels that get their names from a Maritime folklore rhyme about seven crows.
Today, he is the editor of the nationally award-winning newspaper, The Lunenburg County Progress Bulletin in Bridgewater. Since October 1995 he has been writing the popular and award winning column, The Editor’s Diary. Helping to shape and influence public opinion on a wide range of topics that over time, his writing increasingly touches a populist nerve by airing topics important to his readers.
In addition to being an award winning journalist and editor, Vernon is the author of 18 books, many of which collect and preserve the heritage and culture of Atlantic Canada. In 2010 he launched a series of novels that get their names from a Maritime folklore rhyme about seven crows.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 27, 2018
Vernon Oikle continues his Crow Series based in Liverpool Nova Scotia, a small town where the unusual behavior of crows has coincided with, predicted or marked strange events over the years.
Oikle picks up his ongoing narrative bringing readers up to date after the four preceding novels. Cliff Gorman has had heart surgery and is now resting at home on sick leave. His fifteen year old daughter Carly has moved East and is helping him at home. Greg Paris the fifty-five year old forensic psychologist, police officer and Cliff’s good friend, who moved to Liverpool from Ottawa for a quieter life, has temporarily replaced Cliff during his convalescence, heading up the thirteen member detachment while his friend recovers. Greg, his wife Andrea and her four year old daughter Lucy have settled in to their life in town after a bumpy start at their home on a lake in nearby Greenfield. The couple is looking forward to the future. Andrea is pregnant and Greg is more comfortable with the steady pace and routine work in this small town. It is a relief from the work he did in Ottawa, which after several years was beginning to take its toll. He needed a break from the dark world his job plunged him into and he realized he needed to step back to gain his perspective and retain his sanity.
While out jogging on the trail bridge in the early morning, Greg meets five crows who descend on the path. Greg has heard many stories about strange crow behavior in this town and as he watches them they seem to be trying to connect with him. Moments later he receives a call from Constable Emily Murphy. The naked body of a young girl has been discovered by an early morning jogger at Beach Meadows. She has been carefully laid out by the sand dunes near a group of trees. The body is later identified as that of Holly Conrad who was reported missing from Windsor more than a month ago. The body has been scrubbed clean and a thin silver chain with a small cross circles her neck. The scene appears to have been carefully staged in a public place as if the killer wanted the body to be found, but at the same time, whoever it was has been careful not to leave any forensic evidence behind. As he looks sadly at the body of the young girl, Greg notices a crow perched in a nearby tree.
Greg is curious about the crows. People in town talk about them in muted tones, as if they were an omen of some sinister event. He has heard about the deaths people been connected to the sighting of the birds and wonders about the rumors, especially after his experience on the jogging path and then later on the beach. His friend Cliff firmly believes the crows try to warn people about things that may happen in whatever way they can, although it is not always easy to understand what they are trying to say even when they are trying to help. Cliff advises Greg to watch their behavior carefully and try to connect what they are doing with what is going on around him. The birds will always try to tell you what they can.
Greg thinks of himself as a rational, intelligent man and although he started out thinking the stories about the crows were just old wives tales, he is gradually coming to believe there is some truth to the stories. As an educated man, he knows some things that happen defy a simple explanation and is prepared to listen to what others have to say. He consults with an older woman who knows the history of crows in Liverpool who warns him not to make light of things he doesn’t understand. She also cautions him that although he may not believe in something it does not mean it doesn’t exist and he may need to look beyond reality to get answers to his questions.
As the days pass, more bodies of naked girls are found, all about the same age and with the same hair coloring. Each has the silver chain with the small cross around their neck. They come from all around the province, Windsor, Yarmouth and Bridgewater, but Liverpool is the place where the bodies are found.
During the investigation there are several times when Greg appears to be at a complete standstill. He can’t forget the bodies of the young girls and begins to identify with the case both as the father of a young daughter and as a police officer. He is working himself into such a state he is losing his concentration, his appetite and his sleep. He pulls himself together and tries to focus on the investigation but he is clearly faltering. His wife Andrea finds him unsettled, agitated and distracted and she is worried about him.
When sightings of a white Chevy van are seen around the time of the abductions, suspicion begins to settle on Murdock McCarthy who recently arrived in Liverpool. He bought the former Bed and Breakfast called Haddon Hall and moved to Liverpool three months ago. Murdock lives in the large rambling home with his son Lucas and his two young daughters Sophie and Emma. The family is different and some describe them as strange. They stick to themselves and have not made any friends in town since they arrived.
This is a good, solid and interesting mystery but once again Oikle’s narrative is plagued by editorial errors. Spelling and grammar continue to be a problem, with “ember” feathers used instead of “ebony” feathers; “lay still” used instead of “lie still”; “she just lied down and died” used instead of “lay down and died” and the noun “octaves” used instead of “decibels” to describe the volume of speech. These may sound like simple missteps but a large number of obvious errors can be jarring for the reader. My copy of the book from the library was marked in pencil in several places, boldly noting the errors with exclamation marks, so it is not just me who finds them annoying.
I also have concerns about the amount of repetition in the novel and the plausibility of parts of the narrative, pieces of the story that do not ring true. The repetition occurs most markedly in three areas: the description of the friendship between Cliff and Greg, the young appearance of fifty five year old Greg and Greg’s concern for the mental health of Constable Emily Murphy during her first homicide investigation.
Oikle makes a point of describing the close friendship between Cliff Graham and Greg Paris and the fact that they would do anything for each other. This fact is repeated almost every time the two come together on the page, but readers do not need to be reminded of it every time the two appear in the narrative. The same type of repetition occurs as Greg Paris talks with Emily Murphy. Handling the murder of a young child can be a disturbing experience and so it is with insight and a kind heart that he asks if she is managing. And he was prudent to check up on her again later to make sure she was coping. But once again it does not need to happen every time the two appear together on the page. And what made things worse was the fact it was not Emily who was disassembling and becoming rattled and unglued by the investigation, it was Greg Paris! Finally there are the constant reminders of how young Greg Paris looks despite the fact he is in his mid-fifties. After reading about it so often, it became almost comical. The repetition is not only unnecessary but also drags down the pace of the novel.
In terms of the plot, two things did not seem plausible. First, that a man such as Greg Paris with so much experience in brutal crime during his long career, became so disturbed about the case that he could not think straight, does not ring true. Yet when the case hits closer to home, he settles down completely and gets on track, exactly the opposite of what one would expect. Secondly, the night one of the girls disappeared, Greg had asked Cliff to follow a suspect and he agreed. But Cliff was at home that night while another girl was taken and readers are never given an explanation of why Greg was not following the suspect as was agreed.
For those who have not read all the books in the series, Oikle does an excellent job of providing a quick summary of the first five installments, detailing the activity of the crows that coincided with the strange events in town. It certainly allows readers to read this as a “stand alone novel” if they choose to do so. I prefer to read these books in the order they were written as it provides a much richer experience in terms of understanding the development of the key characters.
Despite the criticisms I am still enjoying this series Oikle has based on lines in a children’s rhyme. I applaud his original ideas and the way he integrates some “other worldliness” in these books but not enough that it makes the story improbable. I look forward to the next book and hope it has firm editorial hands as there have been problems in all five books in the series. It is a shame to have such original and creative writing marred by such simple failures.
Oikle picks up his ongoing narrative bringing readers up to date after the four preceding novels. Cliff Gorman has had heart surgery and is now resting at home on sick leave. His fifteen year old daughter Carly has moved East and is helping him at home. Greg Paris the fifty-five year old forensic psychologist, police officer and Cliff’s good friend, who moved to Liverpool from Ottawa for a quieter life, has temporarily replaced Cliff during his convalescence, heading up the thirteen member detachment while his friend recovers. Greg, his wife Andrea and her four year old daughter Lucy have settled in to their life in town after a bumpy start at their home on a lake in nearby Greenfield. The couple is looking forward to the future. Andrea is pregnant and Greg is more comfortable with the steady pace and routine work in this small town. It is a relief from the work he did in Ottawa, which after several years was beginning to take its toll. He needed a break from the dark world his job plunged him into and he realized he needed to step back to gain his perspective and retain his sanity.
While out jogging on the trail bridge in the early morning, Greg meets five crows who descend on the path. Greg has heard many stories about strange crow behavior in this town and as he watches them they seem to be trying to connect with him. Moments later he receives a call from Constable Emily Murphy. The naked body of a young girl has been discovered by an early morning jogger at Beach Meadows. She has been carefully laid out by the sand dunes near a group of trees. The body is later identified as that of Holly Conrad who was reported missing from Windsor more than a month ago. The body has been scrubbed clean and a thin silver chain with a small cross circles her neck. The scene appears to have been carefully staged in a public place as if the killer wanted the body to be found, but at the same time, whoever it was has been careful not to leave any forensic evidence behind. As he looks sadly at the body of the young girl, Greg notices a crow perched in a nearby tree.
Greg is curious about the crows. People in town talk about them in muted tones, as if they were an omen of some sinister event. He has heard about the deaths people been connected to the sighting of the birds and wonders about the rumors, especially after his experience on the jogging path and then later on the beach. His friend Cliff firmly believes the crows try to warn people about things that may happen in whatever way they can, although it is not always easy to understand what they are trying to say even when they are trying to help. Cliff advises Greg to watch their behavior carefully and try to connect what they are doing with what is going on around him. The birds will always try to tell you what they can.
Greg thinks of himself as a rational, intelligent man and although he started out thinking the stories about the crows were just old wives tales, he is gradually coming to believe there is some truth to the stories. As an educated man, he knows some things that happen defy a simple explanation and is prepared to listen to what others have to say. He consults with an older woman who knows the history of crows in Liverpool who warns him not to make light of things he doesn’t understand. She also cautions him that although he may not believe in something it does not mean it doesn’t exist and he may need to look beyond reality to get answers to his questions.
As the days pass, more bodies of naked girls are found, all about the same age and with the same hair coloring. Each has the silver chain with the small cross around their neck. They come from all around the province, Windsor, Yarmouth and Bridgewater, but Liverpool is the place where the bodies are found.
During the investigation there are several times when Greg appears to be at a complete standstill. He can’t forget the bodies of the young girls and begins to identify with the case both as the father of a young daughter and as a police officer. He is working himself into such a state he is losing his concentration, his appetite and his sleep. He pulls himself together and tries to focus on the investigation but he is clearly faltering. His wife Andrea finds him unsettled, agitated and distracted and she is worried about him.
When sightings of a white Chevy van are seen around the time of the abductions, suspicion begins to settle on Murdock McCarthy who recently arrived in Liverpool. He bought the former Bed and Breakfast called Haddon Hall and moved to Liverpool three months ago. Murdock lives in the large rambling home with his son Lucas and his two young daughters Sophie and Emma. The family is different and some describe them as strange. They stick to themselves and have not made any friends in town since they arrived.
This is a good, solid and interesting mystery but once again Oikle’s narrative is plagued by editorial errors. Spelling and grammar continue to be a problem, with “ember” feathers used instead of “ebony” feathers; “lay still” used instead of “lie still”; “she just lied down and died” used instead of “lay down and died” and the noun “octaves” used instead of “decibels” to describe the volume of speech. These may sound like simple missteps but a large number of obvious errors can be jarring for the reader. My copy of the book from the library was marked in pencil in several places, boldly noting the errors with exclamation marks, so it is not just me who finds them annoying.
I also have concerns about the amount of repetition in the novel and the plausibility of parts of the narrative, pieces of the story that do not ring true. The repetition occurs most markedly in three areas: the description of the friendship between Cliff and Greg, the young appearance of fifty five year old Greg and Greg’s concern for the mental health of Constable Emily Murphy during her first homicide investigation.
Oikle makes a point of describing the close friendship between Cliff Graham and Greg Paris and the fact that they would do anything for each other. This fact is repeated almost every time the two come together on the page, but readers do not need to be reminded of it every time the two appear in the narrative. The same type of repetition occurs as Greg Paris talks with Emily Murphy. Handling the murder of a young child can be a disturbing experience and so it is with insight and a kind heart that he asks if she is managing. And he was prudent to check up on her again later to make sure she was coping. But once again it does not need to happen every time the two appear together on the page. And what made things worse was the fact it was not Emily who was disassembling and becoming rattled and unglued by the investigation, it was Greg Paris! Finally there are the constant reminders of how young Greg Paris looks despite the fact he is in his mid-fifties. After reading about it so often, it became almost comical. The repetition is not only unnecessary but also drags down the pace of the novel.
In terms of the plot, two things did not seem plausible. First, that a man such as Greg Paris with so much experience in brutal crime during his long career, became so disturbed about the case that he could not think straight, does not ring true. Yet when the case hits closer to home, he settles down completely and gets on track, exactly the opposite of what one would expect. Secondly, the night one of the girls disappeared, Greg had asked Cliff to follow a suspect and he agreed. But Cliff was at home that night while another girl was taken and readers are never given an explanation of why Greg was not following the suspect as was agreed.
For those who have not read all the books in the series, Oikle does an excellent job of providing a quick summary of the first five installments, detailing the activity of the crows that coincided with the strange events in town. It certainly allows readers to read this as a “stand alone novel” if they choose to do so. I prefer to read these books in the order they were written as it provides a much richer experience in terms of understanding the development of the key characters.
Despite the criticisms I am still enjoying this series Oikle has based on lines in a children’s rhyme. I applaud his original ideas and the way he integrates some “other worldliness” in these books but not enough that it makes the story improbable. I look forward to the next book and hope it has firm editorial hands as there have been problems in all five books in the series. It is a shame to have such original and creative writing marred by such simple failures.
January 25, 2025
“Eyeing the birds that are now staring at him from their perch, Greg breathes deeply, unsure of what he should do. He's heard too many stories about the weird crow behaviour that's become synonymous with this town and he's witnessed some of their antics first hand.”
― Vernon Oickle, Five Crows Silver page 18
Five Crows Silver, recently republished by Moose House Publishing, is the fifth installment in Vernon Oickle’s Crow suspense series set on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. While Corporal Cliff Graham recovers from heart surgery after a major heart attack in December, Special Investigator Sergeant Greg Paris has temporarily taken over the Corporal position as head of the Liverpool RCMP Detachment.
Paris was just adjusting to small-town life with his wife and daughter and the responsibilities of his new position when the body of a young girl with light hair is found in the sand dunes at Beach Meadows Beach. The beach is a short twenty-minute drive outside Liverpool and the young girl had been abducted in Windsor. A small chain, with a cross, around her neck is the only clue in the case. With a snowstorm fast approaching, an amber alert issued in Yarmouth for another young girl with light hair, and with the chances of finding a child alive diminishing just 12 hours after they have been abducted, it’s a race against time to solve the crimes. This begins a fast-paced, nail-biting thriller set over a handful of days in February.
With the titles originating from an old Maritime Nursery Rhyme, I am now on the lookout for Six Crows Gold.
“Some people dismiss these old beliefs as superstitious, but not me. I’ve seen enough strange things in my lifetime to know better than to do that. When the crows have something to say, we should listen to them. Sometimes, ignoring them makes it worse and whatever they’re trying to tell you won’t go away just because you don’t want to accept their warnings.”
― Vernon Oickle, Five Crows Silver Page 69
― Vernon Oickle, Five Crows Silver page 18
Five Crows Silver, recently republished by Moose House Publishing, is the fifth installment in Vernon Oickle’s Crow suspense series set on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. While Corporal Cliff Graham recovers from heart surgery after a major heart attack in December, Special Investigator Sergeant Greg Paris has temporarily taken over the Corporal position as head of the Liverpool RCMP Detachment.
Paris was just adjusting to small-town life with his wife and daughter and the responsibilities of his new position when the body of a young girl with light hair is found in the sand dunes at Beach Meadows Beach. The beach is a short twenty-minute drive outside Liverpool and the young girl had been abducted in Windsor. A small chain, with a cross, around her neck is the only clue in the case. With a snowstorm fast approaching, an amber alert issued in Yarmouth for another young girl with light hair, and with the chances of finding a child alive diminishing just 12 hours after they have been abducted, it’s a race against time to solve the crimes. This begins a fast-paced, nail-biting thriller set over a handful of days in February.
With the titles originating from an old Maritime Nursery Rhyme, I am now on the lookout for Six Crows Gold.
“Some people dismiss these old beliefs as superstitious, but not me. I’ve seen enough strange things in my lifetime to know better than to do that. When the crows have something to say, we should listen to them. Sometimes, ignoring them makes it worse and whatever they’re trying to tell you won’t go away just because you don’t want to accept their warnings.”
― Vernon Oickle, Five Crows Silver Page 69
December 4, 2023
I loved this book! Mr. Oickle's crow series just keeps getting better and better. Surprises and twists around every corner. Curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and storm chips and enjoy the ride. I'd highly recommend!
July 25, 2022
Although the story was good, the writing was not. There were a lot of typos and misuse of punctuation. The style of writing was somewhat elementary as well. It could have been much better.
December 15, 2023
This series continues to get more complex. I enjoyed this volume the most and have bought the next book already. Can't wait to read it.
October 15, 2022
A great series especially living in Lunenburg county area. Good writing waiting for #6 now.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews