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Butterfly Kills: A Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery    by Brenda Chapman Amazon.com order for
Butterfly Kills
by Brenda Chapman
Order:  USA  Can
Dundurn Press, 2015 (2015)
Softcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

University student Leah Sampson is found murdered in her apartment in Kingston, Ontario. In another part of the city, Della Munroe is raped by her husband. Two distinct crimes in two different sections of the city. Couldn't be related.

But disturbing coincidences are uncovered as investigating officers check the women's pasts. Jacques Rouleau has moved back to Kingston, Ontario from Ottawa to care for his father and head the city's Criminal Investigations Division. Kala Stonechild, an officer who had worked with Rouleau in Ottawa, is passing through and agrees to stay long enough to give him a hand.

The two crimes seem to somehow lean against each other. While the two friends struggle to put the few clues together, Stonechild realizes a ghost from her past has arrived on the scene. Who could have murdered Leah? Why does Della's name keep popping up? Both women were apparently hiding secrets, which might have unleashed the violence they suffered.

Brenda Chapman, author of Butterfly Kills, started her career writing children's stories. Her first adult mystery is In Winter's Grip and Cold Mourning was the first of the Rouleau and Stonechild series.

Butterfly Kills is a good read. I liked the two protagonists – who seemed as though they could get something going between them if the crimes didn't occupy their time. They work well together and watch each other's backs. Enjoy. I did.

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