Murder Below Zero: A Maxine Benson Mystery

By John Lawrence Reynolds

It's almost summer in small town Port Ainslie. Or is it? Temperatures are so far below normal that Police Chief Maxine Benson and her team are wearing sweaters. But is it cold enough to freeze the body of the man found in a ditch on the outskirts of town one morning? Maxine starts to investigate, but she is elbowed aside by the mostly-male provincial police force so she takes charge on her own. Soon she's visiting the victim's cold-hearted widow, tracking the widow's mysterious brother, and confronting the killer alone in a tract of forest. Will Maxine's skills solve this twisting tale of a case?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781459814615

John Lawrence Reynolds

John Lawrence Reynolds is the author of more than two dozen works of fiction and non-fiction. He has previously written six mystery novels—most recently, Beach Strip—and is a two-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award (for The Man Who Murdered God and Gypsy Sins). His many non-fiction books include Leaving Home, Free Rider (winner of the National Business Book Award), The Naked Investor and Bubbles, Bankers & Bailouts. Shadow People, his bestselling book on secret societies, has been published in sixteen countries. A former president of the Crime Writers of Canada, he lives in Burlington, Ontario. Visit him online at johnlawrencereynolds.com.

Book preview

MYSTERY

ONE

"You wouldn’t be upset if this were January," Margie Burns said.

I wouldn’t be upset if this were Baffin Island either, Maxine Benson said. But it’s not. It’s June in Muskoka, and I have to wear a sweater, which is wrong. All wrong.

It was early on a Monday morning, just past seven.

I hear we might get more frost tonight, Henry Wojak said. He wrapped his hands around his mug of coffee, cradling the warmth.

Winter had been mild and almost free of snow. Everyone looked forward to a soft spring and a hot summer. That’s the way it works around here, they said. Shiver in January, swelter in June.

March was sunny and mild, April was soft and showery, and May was as fine as a May could be. June, people believed, would kick off a warm and sunny summer.

This was good news for Port Ainslie. Its economy depended on tourists, who came to swim, sail, golf and water-ski. Warm summer days brought crowds who dined and shopped, taking memories and leaving money behind. Lots of money. One spell of bad weather in spring could cancel their plans to visit the Home of Muskoka Magic, as the town called itself.

But there was no magic to frosted windows in June.

Summer was staying away, and so were the tourists. On the second morning in June, snow fell on top of Granite Mountain and lawns shone with frost. It’s just a cold snap, people said. It’ll be gone soon. But now it was the middle of June, and the cold remained. People began saying to each other, Tell me again about global warming… I could use a laugh.

These things happen, Margie said. The weather has its own mind, you know. We just have to give it time.

I’d like to give it hell, Henry said. He had finished his coffee and was blowing into his cupped hands.

Well, you must admit, Margie said, people behave themselves in this weather. Makes our job easier. If things get slower around here, we’ll all have to retire. She was making her weekly report to town council on crime in Port Ainslie. There was never much to tell, but this week there was even less than usual. Margie looked over the list again.

Bruce Olivier Pratt Chadwick, known as Bop, had spent Tuesday night in a jail cell for being drunk in a public place. The truth was, he had been sober. It would have been too cold for Bop to sleep in the park that night, so he had asked Margie to let him sleep in the corner cell, his favorite. Margie said she couldn’t do it unless she booked him for a crime. Bop swore he was drunk, so Margie said okay and asked how he would like his eggs in the morning.

There had been a break-in at a cottage down the lake, but the owners said nothing was taken. A power generator had been stolen from a home on Creek Road. Max had to tell a teenage rock band to close the garage door when they were playing. Even with the door closed they were loud, but no one seemed to care. A dog had run through the town without a leash. Everyone knew the dog’s owner was old Dale Carter, so Max had called and told him where to find his dog. Take it home and keep it tied up, she said. Carter felt so guilty that he sent Max a box of chocolates for her trouble. And early in the week a woman had called to report her husband missing. He had been gone two days. His name, she said, was Robert Morton. Max had passed this on to the Ontario Provincial Police, who handled serious crimes. A missing person was serious, but Max knew that most missing people turned up within a few days. She and Henry and Margie dealt with small matters. Like unleashed dogs, petty theft and loud bands.

Less trouble than normal this week, thanks to the cold weather, Margie said. She closed the report book. I swear they have more crime over at the St. Mark’s bridge club.

Max and Henry stood looking out the window. They had finished their morning chat. Now there was not much to do but watch people pass by on Main Street. Most wore winter jackets, scarves, hats and gloves.

Geegee offered to help me paint my kitchen cupboards, Max said. Geegee was Gillian Gallup, Max’s next-door neighbor at Willow Cove, west of town. Gillian’s husband, Cliff, ran a music store and gave guitar lessons to boys who dreamed of being the next Eric Clapton. I thought I’d wait until the fall to do it. Maybe this would be a good day to start.

What color? Henry asked.

Henry liked to know details about everything.

Color? Max said. She turned to frown at Henry.

Your kitchen cupboards, Henry said. He stared at her like a man waiting to hear if his lottery ticket had the winning number.

I was thinking…, Max began.

Which is when the phone rang.

Max hit the phone’s speaker button and said, Port Ainslie Police Department, Chief Benson here. Max liked to say her title. She was the only female police chief in Muskoka, and she wanted everyone to know it.

A woman’s panicky voice sounded from the phone’s speaker. There’s…, she began. She started over. "There is a man lying

Reviews for Murder Below Zero

[readerbynight · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bk. 1 of series: So quick, so full of plot and entertainingJanuary in June, I can identify. Unusually cold this year, spring just doesn't seem to be in any hurry to arrive in Port Ainslee causing little excitement in the small village. Two conflicting policing sections, can Maxine Benson, chief of Port Ainslee's small police force, keep her cool and wits while the pushy provincial police both ignore and restrict her from doing her official job? The shocking discovery of a body in a ditch brings all enmity to the fore as Max tries to solve the crime with considerable interference from the overbearing head of the provincial police who are virtually scrambling the discoveries made by Max. It takes awhile but methodically Max has answers that are being ignored. Who could have murdered the man in the ditch and why does the body seem more frigid than expected? I enjoyed this book on several levels, a lot of plot packed into this Rapid Read. I will definitely be watching for more books by this author.

[booklover3258 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this quick read. Did I guess the killer? You bet I did! It was an interesting murder mystery especially with the brother/sister twist plot I did not see coming! I actually wouldn't mind reading the series and hoping Max and Boucher's relationship gets more on the romantic side.

[tatoosh-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a Rapid Reads book, a format that is approximately 1/3 the length of a novel. Rapid Reads books deal with adult themes (sex and murder are common). They are intended for ESL students, adults who struggle with literacy, and other readers who want a book they can finish in a single day.A frozen body is found in a roadside ditch in Port Ainslee, a small village in Ontario, Canada, in June. It appears the victim was murdered and preserved in a freezer several days before being dumped. The Port Ainslee police force is small, consisting of Police Chief Maxine Benson (Max), a single constable, and an office manager/jailer so she is required to call the Ontario Provincial Police for serious crimes like murder. One aspect of the story that rings false is the openly insulting and hostile attitude of PC 1st class Ronald Boucher, the responding OPP officer, towards Max. No explanation is given for his behavior so this comes across as little more than an amateurishly contrived effort to introduce conflict. This the second book by Reynolds in the Maxine Benson Mystery series. It is an improvement over the first in terms of pacing. The story is somewhat interesting, and I particularly like the ease of reading the entire book in a single afternoon. It is not necessary to read the earlier story in the series to understand this book, but who desire background on the main character or the setting will need to read A Murder for Max.

[mooose_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Rapid read indeed! Very easy to get through if you're not in the mood for something lengthy. I haven't read the first one so can't comment on continuity, but it was readable as a stand-alone. Lots of dialog to move it all along. Very small town, there's a murder, can the locals solve it or do the big city cops need to do it?

[brianewilliams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent popcorn novella - a murder mystery with a small town police chief doing the sleuthing while being pushed off the case by an arrogant provincial police constable.It's a clever story which could easily have been a full blown novel. The Rapid Reads series is usually like this and this book is no exception.A highly entertaining read. Recommended.I received this through LibraryThing Early Reviewers for an objective review. Thanks to the publisher for providing it to me.

[owlie13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really need to stop requesting these Rapid Reads (or at least realize that's what I'm doing). Not a bad book by any means as long as you know what you're getting. A quick read which doesn't require much thought. Not much room for character development in such a small space, but there was an attempt. For someone learning to read (for whatever reason), this is a reasonable choice.

[momweaver · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book, but as a rapid read book, it didn't provide as much detail and character development. I felt like a rough draft that needed to be fleshed out.

[virginiahomeschooler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very quick read (took me less than an hour to finish), but it was surprisingly satisfying. Similar to James Patterson's Bookshots, this Rapid Read was more a novella than a novel. Being so short, it leaves little room for character development, but the story was entertaining. It is the second in the series, and I was concerned that I would have missed something by not having read the first. I needn't have worried. It works well as a stand-alone. If you're looking for an intricate, difficult to solve, mystery with fleshed out characters, this is not it. But for a fast paced, entertaining single afternoon read, Murder Below Zero delivers.

[jalenv_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As with the first Maxine Benson mystery, A Murder For Max, I won an advance reading copy of book two, Murder Below Zero through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. They are both part of a 'Rapid Reads' series.Maxine Benson is still the Chief of Police for the fictional small town Port Ainslie on the shores of Granite Lake in the Muskoka District of central Ontario province of Canada. Mostly it's pretty quiet. The town's economy depends upon summer Unlike the first book, our murder victim isn't a nasty person. He does make a good object lesson though.

[janisdoll · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I received this ARC book via the Early Reviewers group on LibraryThing. The book is a murder mystery that takes place in a small town in Canada with tension supplied by the big city vs. little city police organizations. It has elements that emulate a short story format, as I read it in about 70 minutes.The story reminded me more of an outline for a book, with short, choppy sentences, lame dialogue, serious issues with verb tense and inept segues, and a weak attempt to add atmosphere by including intermittent weather reports with scenery descriptions.The book is incredibly cliche-ridden with the good cop-bad cop scenario, the wife who is clearly not impacted by the death of her husband (and the obvious choice as the culprit), along with all those connect-the-dots sideline events that will wrap the murder up in a nice little package. I think the author was trying to be PC as characters include a gender-changed relative, a female police chief with a man's nickname (yuk) who solves the crime, a gruff big city male detective, and the really stupid boy-toy assistant murderer. And don't forget the traditional plot lines of "Crooks are Stupid", "Follow the Money", and "The Victim is Almost Always Killed By Someone They Know."I apologize for the spoilers, but I want to save potential readers from wasting their time. This is 70 minutes that I'll never get back.

[pmarshall_82 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Police Chief Maxine Benson has a staff of two, one constable and a secretary, but she doesn't believe size keeps them from being able to investigate a murder that happens in her small town. She resents the attitude of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer who dismiss her knowledge of her community and her ability to use this to solve the murder of the naked, frozen corpse found in the ditch.Murder Below Zero is a quick read and a good murder mystery. It is part of the Rapid Read Series aimed at ESL and adult literacy students. However anyone wanting a short, good mystery will enjoy the book. The one draw back to this series is while the length allows for the development of a good plot line it doesn't allow for much development of the characters. This is the second in the Maxine Benson series but that is not a hindrance in reading the book. I received this book through the Early Reviewers program.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️