Lion's Head Revisited A Dan Sharp Mystery

Product Description A case brings PI Dan Sharp to the northern Ontario wilderness, where he has to face his own dark past. When a four-year-old autistic boy disappears on a camping trip, his mother is reluctant to involve the police. Instead, she calls in private investigator Dan Sharp after a ransom demand arrives. On investigating, Dan learns there are plenty of people who might be responsible for the kidnapping. Among them are an ex-husband who wrongly believed the boy was his son; the boy’s surrogate mother, now a drug addict; the boy’s grandmother, who has been denied access to her grandson; and a mysterious woman who unnerves everyone with her unexpected appearances. A trip to Lion’s Head in the Bruce Peninsula, where the boy disappeared, brings Dan unexpectedly into contact with his own brutal upbringing. But when a suspected kidnapper is found dead, Dan suddenly finds himself chasing the ghosts of the present as well as the past. Review Reading Lion’s Head Revisited is like watching a time bomb in its final minute. With characters made of equal parts compassion and stone-cold criminality, this book is a bullet. ― Jared Mitchell, author of Becky Chan This is as good a whodunit as we’ll see this year. ― Globe and Mail, for Shadow Puppet [Jeffrey Round’s novels] not only give gay readers increasing representation in the world of crime fiction, but offer straight ones a reasonably complex glimpse of a community they’ll likely find isn’t especially different from theirs — except, presumably, for the murderous parts. ― Niagara Falls Review, for After the Horses Dan Sharp, the protagonist, is one of Round's key achievements, vividly brought to fictive life. ― Keith Garebian Solid, well-paced mystery ― Literary Treats A very satisfying mystery with very interesting characters! ― Kinzie Things The main characters are well-developed and have more depth than typical for mystery and detective stories. ― Floralcars An outstanding addition to the Dan Sharpe Mystery series that old and new fans are going to love. ― Book Reviews and More by Kathy About the Author Jeffrey Round is the author of numerous books, including the Lambda Award–winning Dan Sharp mystery series and the stand-alone mystery Endgame. He lives in Toronto. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. One Blood Money PI Dan Sharp sat with his back to the window. Behind him, the Don River murmured quietly after the previous night’s storm. His office on the top floor of a warehouse import-export business had long been a sanctuary for him. Currently, however, it was feeling a bit crowded. The three people facing him looked to be in their late twenties. The blond had multiple piercings and tattoos on her arms. The young man, slender and bearded, was agitated. The third, a quietly attractive woman, watched him with gentle eyes. They were waiting for his answer. “You have no choice,” Dan said. “You have to report it.” “But we want to keep it private. At least for now,” the man insisted. His face was ravaged with red eruptions, like a perpetual adolescent. While his concern was evident, it wasn’t anything Dan could agree to. “It can’t be private, Eli. This is a police matter. Kidnapping is a criminal offence.” “It might be a hoax,” the pixie-haired blond, Janice, argued. “We don’t know for sure if a crime has been committed.” “Do you want to take that chance?” Dan asked. No one answered. “Why do you think it might be a hoax?” Janice frowned. “Because when they called, they never mentioned Jeremy. They just said they were raising money for missing children. When I asked how much, they said a million dollars.” “They were probably playing it safe in case someone was listening in,” Dan said. “Your son has now been missing for three days. The police found no trace of him on the trails up on the mountain or anywhere near the shore where you were camping. You’ve already had one phone call and soon you’ll get another. The only choice you have to make i