NEW RELEASES
Erratic
by Gretchen Roedde
Unusual deaths start to occur in a rural northern Ontario's doctor's practice. These appear to be "hot shots" -deliberate overdoses of narcotics. The bodies are each found near an erratic boulder, a huge rock moved by glaciers thousands of years ago. Dr. Barbara O'Rourke has a friend, a lawyer, Chloe Wexford, who helps when one of Dr. O'Rourke's patients is arrested for a possibly related death of her husband years earlier. Dave O'Reilly, an OPP officer who is also a friend of Dr. O'Rourke, may or may not be implicated in the erratic boulder deaths. There are also links to a fire in Ottawa decades earlier. Not unusual in small towns in the north, there are challenges bringing the perpetrators of the "hot shots" to justice. The murders take place near an erratic boulder moved by glaciers thousands of years ago and the path to justice takes a shaky, erratic road as well. The information on drug abuse statistics including hot shots or deliberately lethal overdoses has been taken from data at the time of this novel. The situation continues to worsen.
Gretchen Roedde has worked in 40 countries in the last 40 years. The challenges and successes of that global health work were outlined in her first book A Doctors Quest written in 2012. It was on the best seller list one week before publication because of pre-orders from church groups, raised tens of thousands of dollars for mother and child health and HIV/AIDs, went into a second print one week later and came out as a second edition in 2019. Her second book Deep Water Dream raised tens of thousands of dollars for indigenous health and palliative care. It was nominated for the Speaker of the Legislature award and is also available as an audiobook. Erratic is her third book, a fictional murder mystery set in northern Ontario. Gretchen Roedde grew up on Toronto Island and has a home there as well as one in northern Ontario.
What people are saying about Erratic
ISBN:978-1-998656-27-1 | WMPub#1275 | 6 x 9" | 256 pages Trade Paperback | $24.95
What people are saying about Erratic
I enjoyed reading Erratic because the well-constructed plot kept me turning the pages. Great characters and an indelible picture of Ontario’s north, where the illegal drug trade has added to the suffering of an already struggling population.
John Bemrose, author of The Island Walkers, nominated for the Giller and the Man Booker prizes and The River Twice.