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MIDDLEMEN
THE LATEST MacNEICE MYSTERY!
OUT JUNE 27, 2023
Detective Superintendent MacNeice returns to Dundurn following a month-long suspension and is immediately thrown into the mysterious case of a wounded runner named Jack and a blood trail that spans over forty miles. At the trail’s source in a Carolinian forest, MacNeice and DI Fiza Aziz find evidence of two homicides, but no bodies.
Two days later, Mac is called to a torn-up orchard set ablaze by lightning. A body has been found lying next to a stack of burnt fruit trees. There’s no evidence to suggest the killings are related, and yet MacNeice suspects they are. But why disappear the bodies in the forest and leave the orchard corpse to be discovered?
As the case develops, the team is confronted by the daylight abduction of a Brant University professor—Mac is convinced it’s a killing about to happen. Going on the offensive, he employs the provincial alert system, in part, to let the kidnappers know the net is closing.
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Middlemen: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Middlemen is the author’s fifth novel in his superb series featuring Detective Superintendent MacNeice, set in a fictitious city in Eastern Canada. A bloodied runaway dog leads MacNeice and his sidekick DI Fiza Aziz to a forest where they uncover evidence of two homicides but no bodies. Shortly afterwards, bodies start turning up, a professor is abducted in broad daylight and a spate of cases involving persons disappearing in other jurisdictions come to light. Can MacNeice prove that they are related? Is the head of an international crime gang responsible for organizing these disappearances and murders, much like a business, shielded by several layers of middlemen?
As was the case with the author’s earlier MacNeice novels, Middlemen is a pleasure to read with engaging leading characters (both good and bad), excellent dialogue, and a compelling, fast-moving plot. MacNeice is an appealing, strong central character. This would make for a terrific TV series. I’m greatly looking forward to the next MacNeice novel.
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"Not since P.D. James' Adam Dalgliesh has there been a police inspector as sophisticated as MacNeice."
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"MacNeice is a splendid addition to the pantheon of detectives... More please, Mr. Thornley, and quickly."
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"This series will be a real winner."
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"MacNeice is the Gretzky of Detectives"
This is the fourth book in the author's impressive series featuring Detective Superintendent MacNeice set in a fictional Eastern Canadian city that resembles Pittsburgh. MacNeice and his team of homicide detectives are confronted with a series of murders committed by a former Special Forces veteran who uses his victims to stage and produce photographic art of a high quality. MacNeice, recovering from the death of his beloved wife, is a uniquely compelling, multi-faceted character and inspiring leader of his team. Scott Thornley is a polished storyteller whose books just keep getting stronger and stronger.
NEWS & REVIEWS
Ten Thrillers to Read in the Heat of Summer – The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail lists Middlemen in their list of 10 thrillers to read this summer! Here’s what they’ve got to say about it: “Let’s just say it: Scott Thornley’s fifth mystery featuring detective superintendent MacNeice is terrific. Each scene takes place in identifiable southern Ontario sketched by an author who loves this place. We begin with […]
Scott Thornley’s Along For The Ride – Middlemen
by Jamie Portman(Appeared in Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Vancouver Sun, Regina Leader-Post, Windsor Star, Edmonton Journal, The Beacon Herald) Canadian crime novelist lets the story lead him to its conclusion Bestselling novelist John Irving once famously observed that whenever he starts a new book, he always writes the last sentence first. […]
BIO
SCOTT THORNLEY grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, which inspired his fictional Dundurn. As president and creative director of Scott Thornley + Company, a strategic creative firm, Thornley worked with cultural and health science clients in Canada, the United States and Great Britain.
Over time, his love of graphic and typographic design grew to include writing the stories that would bring his client’s products and services to life. Scott lives with his wife Shirley Blumberg in Toronto and in the southwest of France.
Middlemen is the latest in the MacNeice series, and follows Erasing Memory, The Ambitious City, Raw Bone and Vantage Point.
Scott is published by House of Anansi Press, and represented by Westwood Creative Artists.
Photo credit: Robert Popkin
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