Death in Cold Type

by C.C. Benison

Newspaper reporter Leo Fabian doesn't think of himself as an opportunist. But when the object of his desire, Stevie Lord, loses the object of her desire to murder, he finds a whole new way to penetrate a woman's heart. Who would want to kill Michael Rossiter anyway? Scion of an old Winnipeg newspaper family, he may have been rich, but he didn't really seem to have enemies. But as Leo delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding Michael's death, he learns some surprising things about his friend that quite possibly led to his demise. Michael's brutal fate mires Leo in a case that comes to embroil his fellow reporters at the Winnipeg Citizen , including troubled feature writer Liz Elliot, volatile lifestyle editor Guy Clark, and Michael's narcissistic sister Merritt Parrish, whom Michael had tried to help get back on the straight and narrow. One of his oldest friends, Axel Werner, also becomes involved and, of course, Stevie, the woman Leo loves. The past intrudes in new and disturbing ways. Old scandals cast long shadows and long-ago deaths take on frightening implications. From old-money Crescentwood to a new-money mall, from the Citizen 's dilapidated newsroom to a peaceful prairie retreat, Leo follows a complex trail of clues, until he not only knows, but knows he has only moments to thwart another brutal murder.

Genres: Mystery, Canada

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

C.C. Benison is the pen name of Douglas Whiteway, a journalist and author who lives in Winnipeg, Canada. He has a degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa and has worked for the Winnipeg Tribune and the Winnipeg Free Press.

He is most recently the author of The Unpleasantness at the Battle of Thornford, a Father Christmas novella, published in November 2020. This follows his last work of fiction, Paul is Dead: A Novel, published in 2018, which is a literary thriller set in an isolated lakeside cottage.

He is also the author of a series of murder mysteries set on the estates of Queen Elizabeth II where the crimes are solved by housemaid Jane Bee, with the Queen's help. Titles include Death at Buckingham Palace, Death at Sandringham House, and Death at Windsor Castle. He is, as well, the author of Death in Cold Type, a murder mystery set in Winnipeg.

In 2011, the first of the Father Christmas mysteries, Twelve Drummers Drumming, was published. The novels feature Tom Christmas, Anglican priest, widower and single father, solving crimes in and around the village of Thornford Regis in Devon, England. Eleven Pipers Piping followed in 2012. Ten Drummers Drumming was published in autumn 2013.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best First Novel (1997): Death at Buckingham Palace

Reviews

[Lori S.]

Kindle

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

C. C. Benison is a former journalist from Winnepeg. This book is about a murder involving a bunch of journalists in Winnepeg. So he writes what he knows. Unfortunately he spent, in my opinion, a little too much time painting the picture of the petty, sniping, miserable people working at the newspaper. A philanthropist who is the heir of the publisher is murdered early on and the story promised a complicated list of suspects. But it became slow and tedious in the middle. However, it redeemed itself with an unexpected twist to the story and a very exciting end.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the plot was satisfyingly complicated, I just didn't care about the characters. Perhaps that is why this is the first and only book I've seen in this potential series -- dropped after one.

[Darlene M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Local author, local setting and very entertaining.