The Inspector Matt Armitage Mystery Series

People have asked if I had anyone specific in mind when I created Inspector Matt Armitage, the main character in my police procedural crime series set in Ottawa, Canada. The answer is, no. He is not modeled on any single person, but is an amalgam of the attributes of the best people that I have known and admired over the years. I wish I knew someone exactly like Matt Armitage. But I don't, so I made him up. And here is my pledge. Given the appreciation of faithful readers, he'll be around for a long time to come.

An Accusing Finger (for release in 2021)

A man's early-morning violent death on the freezing pavement of a west-end convenience store parking lot in Canada's capital city appears at first to be another random act of gang violence, but is it? The dead man has no identification, and his associate has mysteriously vanished. One of the victim's fingerprints is linked to the unsolved murder of a young woman more than twenty years earlier. When Inspector Matt Armitage begins to investigate the cold case he uncovers a second, identical, unsolved murder. One that took place years later, in another city... in another country. In wrapping up the case, Armitage finds that cutting through red tape produces serious, self-inflicted wounds. An Accusing Finger was a Chanticleer Clue Awards finalist.

 

The second book in the series, Death Comes Full Circle, is complete and ready for release in the summer/fall of 2021.

Death Comes Full Circle (for release in 2021)

A legal scholar and well-known free-speech activist is found dead in his Rockcliffe Park home in Canada's capital city. His death first appears to be suicide, but a forensic examination proves that he was murdered. Sympathy seems in short supply, even from family members. The victim was a bombastic eccentric, with few friends and many potential enemies. At the time of his death, he was also under investigation by CSIS. Inspector Matt Armitage and his major crimes team grapple with family conflict, spiteful academics, inter-agency meddling and a hostile media while they look for a mystery woman who may be a key witness. In a forest of distraction, Armitage finds that the growth-ring of a single tree holds the secret.

 

The third book in the series, A Change of Heart, is due to be completed in mid 2021 and will be released in 2022.

A Change of Heart (for release in 2022)

Three people are murdered in a single horrifying event in a downtown Ottawa building. All are shot twice by a masked gunman with a silenced 9mm pistol at close range, once in the heart and once in the head. There is one witness who luckily manages to escape the scene. The murders appear to be a professional contract hit. But on examination, there is no apparent motive for it.

The victims are two men and one woman. All led what appear to be normal, unassuming lives with no enemies. But all appear to have been unknown to each other. The police struggle to find a common connection between them. Who would want them dead, and why?

Inspector Matthew Armitage is challenged with one of the most difficult cases he has ever come up against. He and his major crimes team find dead ends on every trail they follow. The Coroner's report reveals one interesting fact that might be a clue. The female victim had dextrocardia situs inversus. Her heart was located on the right side of her body. Armitage believes that this anatomical anomaly is the missing key that will finally open the door that leads to the murderer.