I bought this book under some interesting cirucmstances. In the fall of 2006, I was in Halifax for work reasons and went to "Word on the Street" there (good timing for the business trip!) There was a panel of people from publishing houses as one of the organized activities; want-to-be authors were invited to come up to the front and pitch their novel in a given number of minutes.
One of the authors pitching really impressed me. She read a part of what she had written. I found her later in the day and we chatted a bit. She said she was lucky that a publisher agreed to publish her book! It would be available in aboout a year. Being a Blackberry (some would say Crackberry) addict, I put a reminder in my calendar for a year from that date.
A year later, when the reminder came up, I googled her name and .... lo and behold, there was a review of her first book in a major Canadian newspaper! So I went out and bought it. I read it back then, but have completely forgotten most of the story, so I am re-reading it now.

Enjoyed this very much, great characters and very entertaining story. I read this book in three days, which is odd for me (I am a pretty slow reader) It was a case of not wanting to stop reading once I started and looking for every opportunity I could find to get back to the story!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing this to gypsysmom in Winnipeg, in aid of her goal to read a mystery novel set in each province and territory.

This book was waiting for me when I arrived home from work on Friday. For reasons that are explained in the release notes for Exit Music, I didn't get that book in the mail until Friday at noon. I was certainly glad that I had finally managed to do so when I found Foul Deeds waiting for me. I am very interested in reading this book and I'm so glad you agreed to the trade.

I really liked this book, a lot. When I first requested this book I had no idea that the author was the famous theatre director Linda Moore. I had often heard her name mentioned in connection with Neptune Theatre. Even then I didn't remember that she got her start in Winnipeg with famed founder of the Manitoba Theatre Centre, John Hirsch. What a legacy she has given Canada in theatre and now I find that she can write a pretty great mystery.

I really liked the bits which explained the meaning of various lines in Hamlet. Even though I took Hamlet in school and have seen it on stage several times there is always something new to glean from it. And of course, the title comes from Hamlet as well Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. (Act 1, Scene 1)

Foul deeds did indeed rise to men's (and women's) eyes thanks to the determined sleuthing of Rosalind and McBride. Peter King's sudden heart attack seemed suspicious to his architect son, Daniel, so he hired McBride to look into it. Rosalind is McBride's researcher in addition to being a theatre dramaturge. She researches poisons that could bring on sudden heart attacks and discovers that yew trees, one of which grows on King's property, has poisonous berries and foliage. Before she can even tell McBride about this he is attacked in a parking lot and left for dead. Fortunately, Rosalind's friend, Sophie, was passing the parking lot on her way from rehearsal and hears McBride's dog, Molly, barking her head off. This leads her to discover McBride and soon the duo of Roz and McBride are searching out clues again. Somebody is certainly trying to put a stop to their work. Anyone who tries to help them is in danger as is Rosalind herself. Unlike a lot of PI's McBride is quite willing to bring in the police and one of the Crown Prosecutors even gets in on the act (although the attraction might be Roz and not the case). Eventually murder is proven and the perpetrator is put behind bars. Then the curtain rises on Hamlet and falls on the book.

I would hope that Linda Moore would write more but amazon doesn't seem to know of any. I'll be keeping my eyes open.

I am going to pass this book on to my sister who is a devotee and participant of live theatre. I'm hoping she will release it during the Fringe Festival. It would be a perfect book for that.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I passed this book on to my sister. Hope she enjoys it.