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Gwen Southin’s latest novel is a page-turner

Death Plays With Fire
Southin
Gwen Southin has released Death Plays With Fire, her sixth novel in the Margaret Spencer mystery series.

Margaret Spencer has done it again – landed herself in the middle of a mystery that has all of the intrigue and harrowing adventures that fans of Gwendolyn Southin’s Margaret Spencer mystery series have come to expect.

Set in 1962, Death Plays With Fire, the sixth and final book in the series, begins with a burning church, an unidentified body and a plea for help from the Keremeos orchardist who operates the bed and breakfast where Margaret is staying.

In the spirit of Agatha Christie and the PBS Midsomer Murder series, Southin uses an eclectic array of characters such as a church organist, migrant farm workers and a shotgun-toting recluse to push her plot along. The book is a page-turner, with suspense building right through to the last pages. 

Southin began writing mysteries in her retirement years, publishing her first Margaret Spencer mystery, Death in a Family Way (Touchwood Editions), in 2001. She has consistently portrayed Spencer as a smart, strong, down-to-earth woman determined to stand on her own after 25 years of being the dutiful wife and mother in an unsatisfactory marriage to a dominating and unfaithful lawyer. Her curiosity and determination to follow every clue frequently lands her in trouble, but she always finds a way out without relying on Nat Southby, her partner in Southby and Spencer Investigations. Although she and Nat have an intimate relationship, Margaret remains true to her independent nature. 

Gwendolyn Southin was one of the founding members of the Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt.