Lit Locale: And Then Is Heard No More

It is an early June evening and you are at an outdoor café at Winnipeg’s Forks Market. Located at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine River, The Forks has been a meeting place for over 6,000 years. The evening is warm but the bugs haven’t gotten too bad yet, so it is the perfect time to sit outside and enjoy a good book. You can hear a busker playing guitar nearby and children shrieking with laughter as they run around the plaza. You look out to the rivers and see the sparkling reflection of lights on the water. The smell of all the delicious foods on offer in the market waft out through the open door — kebabs and curries, bison burgers and pickerel cheeks. And cinnamon buns, your own personal weakness. You resist the urge, though, and return to your book, focusing on Sergeant Roxanne Calloway of the RCMP as she tries to solve the murder of the artistic director of the local theatre company.And Then is Heard No More is the thrilling second instalment in the Roxanne Calloway Mystery series. When Gerald Blaise, the well-loved Artistic Director of the Prairie Theatre Centre, fails to show up to the opening night of the season, rumours start to swirl. Then Gerald’s car is found the following day, north of the city, when a couple of dogs take a keen interest in the bloody contents of the trunk. Since Gerald’s remains have been discovered outside the city limits, Sergeant Roxanne Calloway of the RCMP finds herself investigating the death. PTC’s next play up is to be Shakespeare’s Macbeth, an unlucky play according to theatrical tradition. That rings true, for the staff, cast and crew as well as Roxanne. When a second body is found, this time in a city park, Roxanne finds herself having to work alongside the cynical Detective Sergeant Coop Jenkins of the Winnipeg Police Service. When Macbeth is at the centre of your murder investigation, you can be sure that fair is foul and foul is fair. Roxanne and Coop frequently meet at The Forks to grab a coffee and exchange notes on the case.As you take a sip from your drink, you look around and picture Roxanne Calloway and Coop Jenkins drinking coffee at a table next to you.

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A special thank you to Ashley Brekelmans, marketing assistant at Signature Editions, for sharing the perfect lit locale for Raye Anderson’s And Is Heard No More.Also available on All Lit Up: Find the first book in Raye Anderson’s Roxanne Calloway series, And We Shall Have Snow (Signature Editions).