This second in the series keeps me wanting more. Hazel Micallef is the antithesis of most female detectives. She is not young, she is not beautiful, she is not in great physical shape. She resembles more the seasoned male detectives we have come to love.

In this novel a fishing expedition leads to the discovery of something that looks like a body. The fishers are unable to retrieve it so it is several hours before the police team can get to it and discover what it is.

What Detective Micallef sees is the scene's resemblance to a story being serialized in the local newspaper. It appears to have been staged. But why? Like a dog with a bone, Hazel investigates relentlessly. Except when she is dealing with recovery from a back surgery, necessitating a stay at the house of her ex-husband and his new wife.

The personal intrudes on her work life, rather like it does for most of us in the real world.

The investigation leads to the discovery of a determined manipulator who has targeted Micallef for some reason. This person sends Hazel and her team all over the map, including to the police department in Toronto where Hazel's protege, Wingate, had worked previously. Hazel doesn't make friends easily and the Toronto team is not in love with her, but they do reluctantly follow her lead when they must.

A highly complicated plot with an obsessive criminal at the head of it. I'm getting the impression that nothing is simple in Hazel's world.

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#2 Hazel Micallef mystery set in rural Ontario in fictional Port Dundas, although Hazel and her second, James Wingate, do spend time ruffling feathers in Toronto on his old stomping grounds when a case takes them there. A supposed body dredged up from the bottom of a local lake ends up being nothing but a mannequin--but one that someone wants the police to find--it's been weighted to stay in place and an IP address on the back of the mannequin leads them to a website showing a live feed with the merest of hints that someone is being held captive.

Oddly, the case is unfolding like the serial story appearing in the local newspaper, and Micallef must butt heads with the press as she attempts to find the writer of the story. Hazel, recovering from major back surgery and dependent on the care of her ex-husband and his new wife as well as powerful painkillers, shouldn't even be back to work yet, but something about this case has yanked her chain and she is determined to find out who is manipulating the police--and her in particular--for their nefarious purposes.

A very strange story, and a very interesting one, although I have to admit at first I was really tired of Hazel's pity party. It did get better and by the time I hit the halfway point had a heck of a time putting it down. I really do like Hazel--she's very human, very flawed and vulnerable for all her blustering. Eagerly awaiting the next.

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I wasn't particularly taken with this second entry in the Hazel Macallef series which is set in Port Dundas, Canada. I really like all the characters and the setting, but found the storyline in this one not as interesting. I listened to the book on audio CD, and found that my enjoyment was really hampered by Bernadette Dunn's narration. I just don't like the sound of her voice and will likely read the next entry in the series in hardcover.

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First Line: Glynnis Pedersen's house was full of clocks.

Sixty-something Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is not having the best of years. She's had major back surgery, and there was no alternative but she move into her ex-husband's basement and have his new wife take care of her. Just as she's beginning to think about getting back to work in order to salvage some of her sanity, her mother flushes her stash of painkillers down the toilet. It's almost a blessing when Hazel's informed that the body of a woman has been found in a local lake. What makes the discovery strange is that the local paper has just published the first installment of a story in which the details are eerily similar. In no time at all, Hazel finds herself caught up in a game concocted by someone who knows how to convince her to re-open a cold case... someone who knows that, once she gets started, Hazel will not stop until she has the answers.

I was thrilled with the first book in this series, The Calling. I enjoyed the setting and the swiftly moving plot, but most of all, I loved the character of Hazel. Her dedication, her ability to think outside the box, her compassion, her prickliness, and her sense of humor. I was hoping that I'd enjoy this next book in the series just as much, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

The game Hazel finds herself in the midst of is deviously plotted, and although the identity of the criminal is revealed about halfway through the book, this has the effect of heightening the tension, not lessening it. To top it all off, I found that I liked Hazel even more in this second book because Wolfe takes the time to add more facets to her character. I know that Hazel is getting close to retirement age, but I certainly do hope that she'll be appearing in a few more books before she hangs up her badge.

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