Anna Dowdall delivers the shivers Oh and if you hear a corpulent slithering sound that will be Alfred Hitchcock stirring in his grave because he didnt live long enough to film this quality novel Yes its that good
Alan Bradley NYT bestselling author


At once dark and moody and irreverently cheekyThe Suspension Bridgejoins together literary mystery with municipal intrigue and a young nuns tellall as she faces her own internal conflicts Dowdall infuses rich atmosphere with captivating uncertainty and characters undeniably Canadian yet redolent of some other time and place
Anthony Bidulka author ofGoing to BeautifulCrime Writers of Canada 2023 Best Crime Novel and theMerry Bell trilogyincluding 2024sFrom Sweetgrass Bridge


Please welcome a new and entertaining clerical sleuth Sister Henrietta is intelligent determined funny and not a little perplexed as she investigates some very odd doings in a very odd town determined to be the very model of the very modern year of 1962 until it all goes pearshaped Filled with many twists and turnsThe Suspension Bridgeis a charming and deliciously convoluted tale served with both dark humour and a lighthearted air
CC Benison author of theFather Christmas mysteries


The Suspension Bridgeis an apt title for Anna Dowdalls new novel Hanging between faith and doubt innocence and cynicism blossoming and immolation this is a story told mainly through the eyes of a youngish nun Sister Harriet who has come to a teaching order at the same time a magnificent bridge is to be built in the town Through the course of a school year rival bridge committees need infiltrating students from the convents girls school go missing several fires occur coffee shops feature beatniks singing ballads and protest songs and through it all Harriet needs to find her balance While not everyones choices in life need to be as radical as taking religious vows or running away with the circus Dowdall creates a continuum from bank to bank of her imaginary river that somehow makes sense for her intriguing characters Dowdall has found a voice suited to the era while still connected to a more contemporary judgment of the times Set in a seemingly idyllic area of Canadian small town life the reader senses the historic tensions of the real world of 1963 just beyond the page kept back by a levee that might not hold
Janice Macdonald creator of the Randy Craig and Imogene Durant Mysteries