Never Sleep With a Suspect on Gabriola Island (43 page)

Unfortunately, Tam Gill who was to be the primary Art Teacher has not yet returned from Australia. Yet fortunately two of Gabriola's artists, Linda Preston from the Studio on the Hill, and Stanley Carmichael from Weedbucket, have been selected as instructors. This is a worthy way of creating jobs for Islanders. How fortunate are students able to study with these great Gabriola Artists! There are eight students enrolled this year, five already in residence. They hope to accommodate twenty-two when they're “in full swing.” Artemus Marchand introduced me to Phoebe Hanson, a great would-be artist—what a warm, welcoming atmosphere this “gallant” is able to create just by placing his arm across a student's shoulders! [We plan to bring you interviews with the students during the course of their studies. Ed.]

No expense has been spared, as one would expect from the philanthropic Artemus Marchand. I do not know how much the school cost to build, but a building authority assures me it is A LOT.

Landscaping has not been achieved yet and the grounds are a sea of dust or mud, depending on the season. However, I assume Ms. Gill will be in charge of this, now that she has returned from her extended sea voyage.

Artemus Marchand oversees the whole enterprise and one just knows that it will run as smoothly as Eaglecrest Gallery has in the past. He will move the Gallery shows to The Marchand School Of Art and they will concentrate on the students' achievements. Schools of European Masters have “dried up” he informed me. Which is a shame, readers must remember last year's show, the Gallery show of the Great Paintings. AND the unveiling of the new black chrysanthemum! (With the Marchand-Gills all on the same sixty acres, there should be no more conflict such as last year's Fall Fair when I had to dash from the Agi [Agricultural. Ed.] Hall to the Gallery and back again.)

Readers will join me in wishing Artemus and Rose—and Tam, in his new life in Australia—every success in their new endeavours and hoping that soon a young Gabriola Artist can profit from attendance!

Sandy Frances Duncan is the author of ten award-winning books for children and adults. Her short fiction and non-fiction articles have appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines and newspapers. Sandy's most recent historical fiction is
Gold Rush Orphan
, shortlisted for the BC Book Prize.

A National Magazine Award recipient and winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction, George Szanto is the author of half a dozen novels, the most recent being his Mexican trilogy,
The Underside of Stones
,
Second Sight
and
The Condesa of M.
, as well as several books of essays. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Please visit
www.georgeszanto.com
.

other titles by Sandy Frances Duncan & George Szanto

Always Kiss the Corpse

Sandro Vasiliadis, a nurse at the Whidbey Island General Hospital, has died of an apparent heroin overdose. When his grieving mother bends over to kiss her son's corpse at the viewing, she shrieks, “That's not Sandro!” Convinced that her son must still be alive, Maria Vasiliadis hires Kyra Rachel and Noel Franklin to solve the mystery. With questions of foul play continuing to swirl around the death, the detectives' inquiries lead them deeper into Sandro's life and eventually to a medical clinic that specializes in transgendering.

The second in the Islands Investigations International Mystery series,
Always Kiss the Corpse
takes Kyra and Noel's investigation from the rush of Seattle to the seeming peace of the San Juan Islands in this thrilling page-turner. It's only once the detectives come to understand Sandro in life that they unlock the secret to his death.

 

"Duncan and Szanto bring their A-game to this daring and complex novel."—
Lou Allin, Crime Writers of Canada

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ISCOVER MORE GREAT MYSTERIES LIKE THE ONES HERE AT OUR WEBSITE,
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Copyright © 2009 Sandy Frances Duncan and George Szanto

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, audio recording or otherwise—without the written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying, a licence from Access Copyright, Toronto, Canada.

Originally published by TouchWood Editions Ltd. in 2009 with ISBN 978-1-894898-89-8.

This electronic edition was released in 2011.
e-pub ISBN: 978-1-926741-49-9
e-pdf ISBN: 978-1-926741-48-2

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada.

Cover design by Chyla Cardinal
Front-cover photo from iStockphoto
Maps by Darlene Nickull

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

TouchWood Editions acknowledges the financial support for its publishing program from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council.

www.touchwoodeditions.com