Beautiful Lie the Dead

Inspector Green Mystery #8

by Barbara Fradkin

Inspector Green explores a web of betrayal and deceit. In the dead of night, the phone rings in the missing persons unit of the Ottawa Police. A brutal blizzard is howling, and a wealthy social activist has not heard from his fiance in over twenty-four hours. Friends, family and police are mobilized to search the snowbound city. He comes to believe that his partner is fleeing for her life, possibly from his own family. When a frozen body is found in the snow, just blocks from the mans home, Green knows that someone is conspiring to keep the truth hidden.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Canada, Procedural

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Barbara Fradkin (nee Currie), an award-winning Canadian mystery writer and retired psychologist whose work with children and families provides ample inspiration for murder. She is fascinated by the dark side and by the desperate choices people make.

Her novels are gritty, realistic, and psychological, with a blend of mystery and suspense. She is the author of three series, including ten novels featuring the exasperating, quixotic Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, and three short novels about country handyman Cedric O'Toole which provide an entertaining but quick and easy read. FIRE IN THE STARS is the first book in her new mystery thriller series which stars passionate, adventurous, but traumatized aid worker Amanda Doucette.

Fradkin's work has been nominated for numerous awards, and two of the Inspector Green books have won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel from Crime Writers of Canada. Fradkin was born in Montreal but lives in Ottawa.

Series:
* Inspector Green Mystery

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2005): Fifth Son
◊ Best Novel (2007): Honour Among Men

Reviews

[Edmond Gagnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have trouble getting into novels written by female authors, mostly because of what I call excessive fluff...too much detail about things that I really don't care about...like deep back story from secondary characters.
Having said that, I've come to learn that female readers tend to enjoy that sort of thing. After having become an author myself, I've also learned that 80% of all readers are female. So there it is, a lesson learned.
I'd never heard of this Canadian author so it was a good learning experience for me to see how a fellow Canuck author does it. I enjoyed the story and characters, but thought the plot was a bit predictable for a mystery novel. It just didn't reach out and grab me enough to receive that fourth star.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Beautiful Lie the Dead.
Now I have to go and get all of the other Inspector Green mysteries in the series.

All of the characters are fully fleshed out, and their inner lives are referenced throughout just enough to pique my curiosity about what they may have experienced in previous Inspector Green novels, but not so much to distract from the main plot. Nicely done.

The descriptions of Ottawa in winter are fantastic as well. As an Ottawa resident, I am looking for the familiar, but the author also paint a vivid picture of unfamiliar areas of the city, and of that gorgeous bad girl city, Montreal.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a case of a very good writer with a disappointing editor. Repetition of entire phrases merely two pages apart, doubling of sentences one after the other, typos, punctuation errors, need I go on?

Otherwise the writing is good. The further along I get in the series, the more contrived the plots seem, but for now I'm still here.

The plot in this particular book seems far too unlikely to actually be realistic. In the author's defense, the main characters all see it the same way I do - they can't fathom that they could find themselves in this situation and, yet, here they are. At least the author seems aware that the connections are tenuous and borderline ridiculous. Previous books have been convoluted in the characters' relationships going back decades, but not unbelievably so.

We shall see what the next books bring.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is almost Christmas in Ottawa and a major snowstorm has blanketed the city, currently digging itself out of the first major snowstorm of the season. In the midst of the inclement weather, two events unfold. Dr. Brandon Longstreet, unable to contact his fiancé Meredith Kennedy, begins to worry and a tired snowplow driver, nearing the end of his assigned run, feels a small bump beneath the wheels of his plow and believes he may have run over an abandoned sled.

Brandon and Meredith talk at least once or twice a day, so when all his attempts to reach her fail, he becomes convinced something has happened to her and reports her missing. Although the couple are two weeks away from their wedding, Brandon knows Meredith is level headed, not the type to suddenly get cold feet, run off and go into hiding. Her best friend Jessica was the last one to speak to her and says Meredith was upset and wanted to talk. They were to meet the next day, but Meredith never showed up. Nor did she report for work. The last time she was spotted, she was getting off a bus, blending in with the crowds of commuters and Xmas shoppers.

Meredith’s parents Norah and Reg Kennedy say their daughter was excited about her upcoming marriage and the couple’s plans to work overseas after their honeymoon. Her only concern was Brian’s mother who did not approve of the upcoming wedding because of the couple’s very different backgrounds. Brandon came from a wealthy Montreal family, had a privileged upbringing and a private school education while Meredith came from much humbler beginnings. Her parents graduated from a community college, worked in clerical jobs and lived a very modest lifestyle. Did Brandon's mother say something to Meredith about their different backgrounds that upset her?

Brandon is the only son of Elena Longstreet, a big-name attorney who once practiced criminal law and had a reputation for major courtroom drama. She is now teaching at the University of Ottawa. Her husband Harvey, was once a law professor at McGill and came from a wealthy Westmount family. He died when Brandon was only two months old and Elena raised her son alone.

As the investigation into Meredith’s disappearance begins, Adam Jules, Green’s former boss and mentor, approaches him, asking questions about hit and run accidents and missing women who were unaccounted for. Green is puzzled, but Jules avoids his questions. Later when Green tries to reconnect with him, he discovers Jules has not only distanced himself, but is actively avoiding him. He doesn’t answer his phone and is not at his apartment. Even his secretary is worried, as she goes about cancelling all his appointments. Green becomes concerned and starts to worry that Jules may somehow be connected to Meredith Kennedy’s disappearance.

When a caller phones in to report they have sighted a frozen human hand in a snowbank, first responders discover the partially excavated body of an unidentified woman, hoping against hope it is not Meredith. They need to identify the victim as well as determine if this was an accident or a crime scene.

Meanwhile the search for Meredith leads Green to Montreal. There he meets a scrappy newspaper reporter scrambling for a scoop, visits a nursing home where Meredith’s beloved grandmother is suffering from Alzheimer’s and eventually ends up at a prestigious address in Westmount, where an older icon of the Longstreet family sits ensconced in a huge mansion.

Radkin fills the part of her story set in Montreal with all the details that make the city come alive. She puts her readers in the excitement of the vibrant city, with its never-ending political dance between the English and the French and its important landmarks, streets and eateries. She knows the city well and her description aptly fits this vibrant city, so well known for its multiethnic population, its suicidal drivers, and its crazy traffic.

Meanwhile events in the squad room continue to unfold. It has been three months since Brian Sullivan experienced a medical catastrophe and he is still out on sick leave, refusing to clarify whether he intends to return. Sullivan is Green’s closest friend and confidant and he mises him terribly, especially during these stressful, high-profile investigations. The bureaucrat who replaced him watches the clock and takes every opportunity to be away from the office, fleeing the day after Meredith’s disappearance for Disneyland with his family, something Sullivan would never even consider.

It is almost three years since Sue Peters was assaulted and beaten within an inch of her life, but she continues her rehabilitation and is gradually doing more at the office. She keeps pushing to get back to full time detective work but is clearly not yet medically fit. She and Brian Gibbs, the shy, stuttering computer wizard in the squad, continue to develop their close relationship.

Detective Marie Claire Levesque, a recent arrival to the detective squad continues to annoy Green, but she is organized, smart and focused and he feels confident enough to leave her in charge of the unit while he is in Montreal.

At home, Sharon, now approaching forty, is still encouraging the idea of a second child, while Green feels they are just coping with what they already have on their plate. Hannah, his daughter with his first wife Ashley, is much more settled, but her mother is now insisting her daughter return to her for Christmas. Green is reluctant to let Hannah go, concerned she may never return.

This is book eight in the series and adds another solid addition to the series.

[M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I've read too many books similar to this one, but I just couldn't become engaged with any of the characters. The opening grabbed me immediately.......... but it all too soon dissolved.
The story was pretty well devised but none of the characters populating this novel shone with any singularity.

[Bruce Retallack · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always a treat to read a mystery by a Canadian author and set in Canada and, to be honest, Fradkin's descriptions of Ottawa and Montreal are my favourite parts in the book (see, I even put the 'u' in favourite ;-).
Apart from the setting, there are a lot of great characters in the book, and all are well developed.
The plot itself is intriguing and original, and I like how our detective works his way through the twists and complexities to arrive at the solution. My only problem is that the plot is also so improbable that it felt as if the author were cheating.
A pleasant, quick read all around. 3 stars.

[Reggie Billingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, reeeellly liked this, the plot weaves, the local and further Canadian references, the brief backstory fill-ins the whole package. Fradkin writes securely and confidently and resides on her end of detective fiction spectrum far far away from too many female 'cosy' wannabes who, in my opinion, degrade the genre overall to a dismaying degree.
Will for sure be checking out more from Fradkin.
What a pleasant surprise to discover this author, however late in the day, and I look forward to enjoying her backlist in the coming snowy weeks.

[Micheline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Fradkin does is again. She writes in a way that keeps you turning the pages to find the end to the mystery at hand with many twists and turns between the characters and their stories. Traveling within her books, this time Ottawa was the main backdrop.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel mainly because it's set in Canada, the characters are well developed and the plot kept my interest throughout. Hidden secrets usually have consequences a person is not prepared for.

[Jennifer Duell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best in the series so far!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was happy to be introduced to this Canadian Author by our librarian. Enjoyed the novel will be reading more of her novels

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read with some backstory involving MTL. Old secrets come to life and cause problems.

[Alexander Inglis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not just the frozen north: Canada is home to an embarrassingly rich roster of crime and mystery writers of whom Barbara Fradkin numbers among the very best (and sadly less well known than her talent demonstrates). Born and educated in Montreal, after spending some time in Toronto she settled in Ottawa where she raised a family and spent 25 years as a child psychologist. Her Inspector Michael Green of the Ottawa Police, has been solving homicides for a decade; this latest outing, the eighth, is Beautiful Lie the Dead, published in 2010. Two previous titles won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Winter has descended on Ottawa by the time Meredith Kennedy, fiancé of wealthy Brandon Longstreet, is reported missing. Ottawa Homicide Inspector Michael Green is charged with solving the case when a young woman is found in snow bank ... but when the corpse turns out to be someone else, the case leads to Montreal and a suicide of a prominent lawyer that occurred decades earlier ... the lawyer none other than Brandon's father. As hunches uncover further "coincidences", other long buried secrets seep to the surface in a race to ensure no further corpses are created.

This was a cracking good tale, offering psychological insight into the main and secondary characters. While the writing itself is not "clever" in the sense of memorable turns of phrase, it is brilliantly plotted and paced, offering character development and a great mix of quasi eccentrics mixed in with folks just doing playing their roles. Green is a marvelous individual creation offering charm, intelligence, personal misgivings, dedication and genuine warmth toward family, colleagues and flawed players he encounters while unravelling the case. I'll be reading more of these in 2012 for sure!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a comfortably Canadian story, especially if you know Ottawa at all, and it fitted the time I read it as snow storms were battering all of eastern Canada. I have not read any of the other Inspector Green stories but you're given enough background to be going on with but not so much as sometimes inundates you. I really liked the fact that the book starts with the Inspector's daughter seeing the missing woman but not saying anything because she wasn't completely sure and was it important enough - just the way any of us would and she kicks herself over it just the way any of us would. There are always at least two streams of action going on in a workplace: the requirements of the job, the open events, and the behind the scenes action, the thoughts, suspicions, envy, and resentments that have to do with interpersonal relationships and the desire (or not) to try for promotion. These two worlds are delineated well in this book, if you had been in the various offices there would not have been much to indicate that second stream but the awkwardness that hampers first stream action would have been sensed. The complex plot is a little eyebrow raising and I'm not completely satisfied with the ending, but it certainly is a lesson against hiding things.

[D.A. Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barbara Fradkin is a shamelessly local author, writing about Canadian scenes and stories and for that alone, I like her. Too often Canadian writing is hidden in other locations to appeal more to the American market, or written by new immigrants about the land they left. I don't understand it, when Canada is so interesting in its own right. That said, some of the local colour gets in the way of the story. I don't need to know the actual view from the window of a specific deli to get the picture...
The Inspector Green stories are quite lovely in and of themselves. The Inspector is a thoughtful man in some ways, and enough detail about police functioning is included to make it clear Fradkin knows whereof she speaks. You feel you are in good hands and can relax into the story.
This particular story includes the Canadian mandatory winter, with heaps of snow and such, and the muddled history of out of wedlock births in the not too distant past. I enjoyed it.
For my money, though, Louise Penny's books provide more gristle and thoughtfulness.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful Lie the Dead is the eighth Inspector Green book by Barbara Fradkin. When a young woman, shortly to marry, goes missing and then the body of a woman is found in an Ottawa snowbank, it takes a little while for the police to discover that the dead woman is not the missing one, but the two are nevertheless linked. Why did the bride disappear, first to Montreal and then apparently off the face of the earth? Inspector Green must travel to Montreal for the answers, which appear to lie buried deep in the past.... I've been enjoying this detective series, set primarily in Ottawa but sometimes moving to other parts of Canada; this one was especially fun for me since I live in Montreal. The mystery is complex but fairly clued, and the culprit was unexpected, which is always a plus in a mystery! It's not necessary to know the earlier books in the series to enjoy this one, although of course having the back story is always preferable. Recommended - although how anybody could prefer Lester's smoked meat concoctions over that of Schwartz's famous deli is beyond me!

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent police procedural that takes place in Ottawa with stops in Montreal and smaller Canadian towns as Inspector Green marshalls the members of the Major Case Squad to locate a woman missing, but feared dead, only to discover the relationship between her fiance, the rich mother, the man’s long dead father, and a woman, later identified as Lise Grevelle, found dead on the street who had known the missing woman.

To say any more would turn this into a spoiler. Very enjoyable, well written, suspenseful, and seemingly realistic police procedures.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a series that I was not familiar with but greatly enjoyed. Liked the Ottawa background and the foray into Quebec. I did find I 'got' the secret just before the protagonist did. I felt a lot of sadness for the murder victim, something I find can overlooked in murder mysteries. Often the victim serves only as a catalyst for the action, here I saw her as a very sad person dead long before she should have been.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

First one I've read in this series, but it is obvious that there are others that precede and follow it, given the details of characters' backstories. On its own, it works well enough as a traditional murder mystery. No sex, no violence, kind of nice for a change. Reasonably believable, though the whole plot moves quickly both in few pages and in the characters' timeline. Just light detective reading.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, eh. A Canadian mystery novel, set in Ottawa, so it was fun to read because it was a familiar setting. Good pacing, figured out ending half way through but still fun to read on a windy rainy Sunday.

[Frederick Abeysundera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed all the books Barbara Fradkin has written. The character, Inspector Green, is well-developed and realistic. He has strengths and weaknesses. The plot is interesting and realistic. Very good reading.7

[Alison Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thankfully, Cdn. authored books are nothing like their television show counter-parts! This was my first Barbara Fradkin novel; it was an enjoyable, fast read, without a hint of corn between the covers.

[Victoria Shepherd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this novel due to its unashamedly Canadian setting, but found the story plodding and the ending predictable.

[Maureen Coyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new favorite author.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time for this author. I'll read the rest of the series. And soon. Excellent progression of plot and character development. Loved it.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this series gets better and better and you find yourself fully involved with the characters. I shall be really sorry when I have read them all.

[Linda Kuno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story with many twists. Looking forward to her next book.