A Cold White Sun: A Constable Molly Smith Mystery

In Delany’s solid sixth Constable Molly Smith mystery, Molly and Det. Sgt. John Winters struggle to discover why an unseen sniper shot Cathy Lindsay—a Trafalgar, British Columbia, high school teacher—as she was out skiing. On the surface, Cathy was a perfectly unremarkable person. On closer examination, the police discover that her personal life was a baroque mess of infidelity and unrequited crushes; they can’t even rule out the possibility that some overwrought, entitled student (or parent) killed her after receiving a bad grade. Most disturbing is the possibility that Cathy was not personally targeted, that her life can offer no insight into her death, and that the police are helpless to prevent her murderer from striking again. The final resolution owes less to sleuthing than to simple human flaws of a realistic but dramatically unsatisfying sort, but the author’s quietly competent sketch of police work in a small town will keep readers turning the pages. (Aug.)