The Barren Hills of Creighton

By Trina Brooks

In 1951 Canada is experiencing a post-war boom but life moves slower in he northern town of Creighton Mine. For nine-year-old Rose unpaved streets and outhouses are all she’s ever known, but change is coming. This will be the summer she stops being invisible.

It’s been five years since her sister, Virginia, has been home and everyone in town is eager to hear about her glamorous life in Los Angeles. Rose is determined with all the buzz she’ll grab a bit of that spotlight for herself. Not long after Virginia’s return excitement turns to tragedy when the first murder in living memory casts a shadow over the town. A murder with no suspects and no motive.

Detective Victor Lapointe of the OPP is assigned to the case. He expects to wrap it quickly but soon finds that keeping secrets in small towns sometimes takes precedence over the truth. And from day one something about the victim stirs up memories he’d rather keep buried.

For Rose the murder unveils a family secret she was never meant to learn. One that puts her dangerously into the spotlight she craved.