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Zara's Dead
From the author of the 2017 Governor General's nominee in Non-fiction, Where I Live Now, comes a new mystery novel.
Fiona Lychenko, now a woman in her late sixties, has spent years researching the death of her high school classmate Zara Stanley, who was brutally murdered at the age of twenty. Determined to solve the crime, something the police weren’t able to do, Fiona interviewed everyone she could in her hometown of Ripley, but every trail led to the same dead end. She even published her findings in a book, hoping it would lead to anonymous clues from readers and outliers, and still, nothing. Now, a decade later, Fiona has finally given up hope that the killer would ever be caught.
That is until a brown manila envelope turns up under her door and Fiona once again finds herself embroiled in the midst of a controversy so intricate and tangled that one wrong move could be her undoing.
Based on the true story of the murder of Alexandra Wiwcharuk in 1962 in Saskatoon, Zara’s Dead is the fictional retelling of a very real story, one that has captivated the public and eluded answers for decades.
Fiona Lychenko, now a woman in her late sixties, has spent years researching the death of her high school classmate Zara Stanley, who was brutally murdered at the age of twenty. Determined to solve the crime, something the police weren’t able to do, Fiona interviewed everyone she could in her hometown of Ripley, but every trail led to the same dead end. She even published her findings in a book, hoping it would lead to anonymous clues from readers and outliers, and still, nothing. Now, a decade later, Fiona has finally given up hope that the killer would ever be caught.
That is until a brown manila envelope turns up under her door and Fiona once again finds herself embroiled in the midst of a controversy so intricate and tangled that one wrong move could be her undoing.
Based on the true story of the murder of Alexandra Wiwcharuk in 1962 in Saskatoon, Zara’s Dead is the fictional retelling of a very real story, one that has captivated the public and eluded answers for decades.
- GenresCanada
258 pages, Paperback
Published May 15, 2018
2 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Sharon Butala
65 books59 followersSharon Butala (born Sharon Annette LeBlanc, August 24, 1940 in Nipawin, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian writer and novelist.
Her first book, Country of the Heart, was published in 1984 and won the Books in Canada First Novel Award.
As head of the Eastend Arts Council she spearheaded the creation of the Wallace Stegner House Residence for Artists in which Wallace Stegner's childhood home was turned into a retreat for writers and artists.[14]
She lived in Eastend until Peter's death in 2007. She now lives in Calgary, Alberta.
She was shortlisted for the Governor General's award twice, once for fiction for Queen of the Headaches, and once for nonfiction for The Perfection of the Morning.
The Fall 2012 issue of Prairie Fire, entitled The Visionary Art of Sharon Butala was dedicated to Butala and her work and influence.
(from Wikipedia)
Her first book, Country of the Heart, was published in 1984 and won the Books in Canada First Novel Award.
As head of the Eastend Arts Council she spearheaded the creation of the Wallace Stegner House Residence for Artists in which Wallace Stegner's childhood home was turned into a retreat for writers and artists.[14]
She lived in Eastend until Peter's death in 2007. She now lives in Calgary, Alberta.
She was shortlisted for the Governor General's award twice, once for fiction for Queen of the Headaches, and once for nonfiction for The Perfection of the Morning.
The Fall 2012 issue of Prairie Fire, entitled The Visionary Art of Sharon Butala was dedicated to Butala and her work and influence.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 29, 2018
I enjoyed this book as a mystery, as well a story of personal growth. Amateur sleuth, Fiona, deals with the problems of aging, loss and the need to find the truth about her late husband in ways I found believable and engaging. I liked the parallels between her personal mystery and the very public mystery she is compelled to investigate. The writing had touches of humour that spring from the character. It also intrigued me that this fiction is based on the author's experience with a real unsolved murder in Saskatchewan. This sent me searching the Internet for background details. I recommend Zara's Dead to those who prefer character development over fast-paced action in a mystery novel.
November 2, 2018
Honestly, after seeing the author speak at a reading, I had my doubts about this one. Seemed more like a vanity project after her earlier investigation of the real life murder that inspired this book didn't pan out (see the author's previous book, The Girl From Saskatoon, which I have not yet read). But I'd already purchased the book before the reading. So, grabbing it off my bookshelf, I thought "What do I have to lose?" I'm not really a mystery reader, but it turns out I really enjoyed this and could not put it down! I don't know how it compares to the actual facts of the case she had researched, so I gladly can't judge it on that. But as sleuthy fiction with a fun heroine, peppered with ruminations on aging and mortality, I could not wait to find out what was going to happen next! So glad I gave it a chance! And maybe now I'll do some reading on the true tragic story.
September 7, 2018
Good entertainment for a few days and evenings.
January 3, 2019
This book was a chore to read, and I admit that I skimmed big parts of it. However, the skimming caused no loss as the book was tremendously repetitive and I did generally read the first, second, and often third repeats before skimming all of the others.
From what I could tell: 67% of the book was protagonist Fiona navel gazing about her marriage, her next move, her last book, etc. in a way that is so repetitive that I kept thinking I was accidentally on the wrong page because it was nearly word-for-word the same as many of the times before that Fiona ruminated about a particular topic; 15% of the book was Fiona being surprised that her mind was blank; 15% of the book was Fiona almost causing car accidents because instead of paying attention to her driving she was too busy wool-gathering (see the first point above) - and seriously, this happened repeatedly and why did the author think it was OK? People drive at 110 km/hr (legally) in Alberta. Someone could be killed that way; and the final 3% was the actual plot. To sum it up: the plot was severely lacking and most of the book seemed filler created from nonsensical, monotonous, similar to the point of identical words over and over again that had little or nothing to do with the plot.
After that, Fiona was the only real character in the book, and I could not warm up to her at all. Even after all of her navel-gazing and me reading the tedious details of Fiona's many thoughts, and even though these were outlined, almost word-for-word repetitively over the book (see above - and yes, I am being repetitive but if the author did not make the effort to be interesting, why should I?), I still have no idea why she was doing any of the things she was doing, which is fair because Fiona never seemed to know either. I also found Fiona to be supremely unsympathetic even though she was in a position that would normally lead me to have some soft feelings for her. Fiona just seemed to have a complete lack of any type of empathy towards her fellow humans (e.g. mulling over rental cars while her sister lies dying in the hospital), nor any real understanding of her fellow human beings in general. I started to suspect that this was a reflection of the author's lack of understanding, as despite disclaimers to the contrary Butala seemed to be writing about herself using the code name Fiona.
Aside from the tediousness of the writing, the book lacked a good editor. A solid editor would have cut out much of the repetitiveness of the book and made it a better read - OK, at least a more streamlined read...
Overall, a generous two stars and happiness on my part both because I FINALLY reached the end of the book (though sadness because it was not worth the effort even with skimming) and especially because I can give the book back to the library.
From what I could tell: 67% of the book was protagonist Fiona navel gazing about her marriage, her next move, her last book, etc. in a way that is so repetitive that I kept thinking I was accidentally on the wrong page because it was nearly word-for-word the same as many of the times before that Fiona ruminated about a particular topic; 15% of the book was Fiona being surprised that her mind was blank; 15% of the book was Fiona almost causing car accidents because instead of paying attention to her driving she was too busy wool-gathering (see the first point above) - and seriously, this happened repeatedly and why did the author think it was OK? People drive at 110 km/hr (legally) in Alberta. Someone could be killed that way; and the final 3% was the actual plot. To sum it up: the plot was severely lacking and most of the book seemed filler created from nonsensical, monotonous, similar to the point of identical words over and over again that had little or nothing to do with the plot.
After that, Fiona was the only real character in the book, and I could not warm up to her at all. Even after all of her navel-gazing and me reading the tedious details of Fiona's many thoughts, and even though these were outlined, almost word-for-word repetitively over the book (see above - and yes, I am being repetitive but if the author did not make the effort to be interesting, why should I?), I still have no idea why she was doing any of the things she was doing, which is fair because Fiona never seemed to know either. I also found Fiona to be supremely unsympathetic even though she was in a position that would normally lead me to have some soft feelings for her. Fiona just seemed to have a complete lack of any type of empathy towards her fellow humans (e.g. mulling over rental cars while her sister lies dying in the hospital), nor any real understanding of her fellow human beings in general. I started to suspect that this was a reflection of the author's lack of understanding, as despite disclaimers to the contrary Butala seemed to be writing about herself using the code name Fiona.
Aside from the tediousness of the writing, the book lacked a good editor. A solid editor would have cut out much of the repetitiveness of the book and made it a better read - OK, at least a more streamlined read...
Overall, a generous two stars and happiness on my part both because I FINALLY reached the end of the book (though sadness because it was not worth the effort even with skimming) and especially because I can give the book back to the library.
June 2, 2022
Butala is a wonderful writer; mystery is not her genre.
April 27, 2023
The plot has some holes, and the text needed a copyedit, but I enjoyed reading it and sped through it. 👍🏻
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews