The Gifted: A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery - Hardcover

National Bestseller

“The Gifted offers all the reliable Bowen virtues – deftly drawn characters, unusual twists and turns of plot, plenty of authentic details about contemporary Canadian life, and, of course, the irrepressible and genteel upper-middle class sleuth, Joanne Kilbourn. The Gifted can fairly be said to confirm Bowen’s growing reputation as ‘the queen of Canadian crime fiction.’ . . . [It] will undoubtedly invite a fresh wave of new readers into the wonderfully crafted world of Gail Bowen’s mystery fiction.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
           
“[Joanne’s husband Zack’s] legal advice, and his contacts, come in handy through the novel’s eruptions of theft, murder, blackmail and surprise. He’s a handy family support for Joanne as she juggles the needs of not only a community, but more immediately of the friends – and most immediately of the family members – she wants to keep safe for their own full, happy lives. As usual, this is no small trick, for even the most experienced protagonist – of whom in all of Canadian crime, Joanne and her creator are among the most dependably enduring.”
—Joan Barfoot, London Free Press
 
“It’s [Joanne and Zack’s daughter] Taylor who innocently sets off the chain of action that leads to murder [and] becomes the girl readers can’t help cheering on. . . . [She’s] an adorable heroine.”
— Jack Batten, the Toronto Star ­

“Bowen’s prose is straight-forward, and the essential set-up — an amateur drawn into a murder investigation — fairly conventional, but Bowen uses these sturdy building blocks with skill and inspiration. The result is less a murder mystery and more a character study sketched out with blunt objects and gray matter.”
— Publishers Weekly