Freezer I'll Shoot: 03/17/20

Freezer I'll Shoot by Victoria Hamilton is the third of the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries. It's late summer and Jaymie Leighton is on Heartbreak Island to fix up the cottage's plumbing before the annual family dinner. This year is complicated by the inclusion of Daniel and his parents.

Across the way from where the new leech field will go, is Ruby and Garnet's house. They run the Ice House restaurant, built in what once was the island's ice house. After a public tiff in the restaurant with the co-owner of the American side pier, he's found dead in land between two cottages.

Like Queensville (the mainland city where Jaymie lives full time), Heartbreak Island is fictional. It's an island in the St. Clair River and like real world Point Roberts, Washington, it has the US/Canadian border running right through a small piece of land. With recent changes in border crossing rules (namely the need for a passport and official checkpoints), the very nature of the island is changing. (See also my review of Notorious by Gordon Korman.

The tighter border enforcement is taking its toll on the local economy. It's also drawing a divide between islanders and townies. The suspects are a mixture of both, but all have been negatively affected by the changes. Tensions are high and nerves are raw.

The mystery is kept interesting by a strong sense of place and an understanding of what border life is like. An observant reader will figure out the timeline of events and the reason behind the murder.

The next book is No Mallets Intended (2013).

Five stars

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