Born in Toronto Canada Lou Allin grew up in Cleveland Ohio and received a PhD in English Renaissance Literature for her study of the murdered spy Christopher Marlowe With jobs scarce in the US she returned to Canada to teach at Cambrian College and settled in Sudbury Ontario 250 miles north of Toronto and the heart of Canadas Nickel Belt Lou has since retired to Canadas Caribbean Vancouver Island and lives with three dogs in Sooke BC overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca where the rain forest meets the sea and banana slugs frolic The acclaimed Belle Palmer literary mystery novels were Lous first attempt at a series Her newest series stars RCMP Corporal Holly Martin Northern Winters Are Murder Another freezing winter descends in seeming peace upon the Northern Ontario lake where realtor Belle Palmer lives genteelly with her dog tropical fish and classic film collection But the snowladen tranquillity is tragically disturbed when a good friend is killed in a freak snowmobile accident on an isolated lake Or so it seems Belle and others suspect foul play but a motive and a criminal prove hard to find Resort owners antienvironmentalists and the new local drug dealers may all have had reason to want Jim Burian quietly removed and information isnt forthcoming Belle is determined to find out what happened to this decent man but she is shocked when she discovers what twisted roots underlie this savage crime on idyllic northern ice Blackflies Are Murder Its now high summer in Northern Ontario where everyone is bear bait even the bears Gunshots chase Belle Palmer from her quiet forest paths Then on her remote lakeside road the savage and unexplainable murder of an elderly neighbour puts her on guard against twofooted killers Does the answer lie in the woods In the alleys of the Nickel Capital Or in the black rock moonscape of an ecological disaster area Belles investigations gradually uncover the sordid details of a sexual abuse scandal in a residential school years before which has left scars on its victim that can never heal The horrifying truth and its deadly fallout may destroy many more lives before this tragedy reaches its last act Bush Poodles Are Murder Belle takes her friend and employee Miriam MacDonald on a snowshoe trek Also along for the trip is Miriams spoiled minipoodle a gift from Miriams investment broker boyfriend Elphinstone who promises huge returns on Miriams life savings Later that week Miriam discovers Elphinstone bludgeoned to death in his condo Although Miriams fingerprints alone are found on the Inuit sculpture murder weapon the collapse of Elphinstones empire has ruined hundreds of people and made him many dangerous enemies Miriam is eventually charged with seconddegree murder and then as Belle struggles to pull the pieces of a very complicated puzzle together Miriam rushes off to North Bay to be with her ailing daughter and Belle inherits the obnoxious poodle Meanwhile a stalker now has Belle watching her back in the Northern Ontario bush she calls home Will she find the killer before a bullet finds her Murder Eh Northern Ontario realtor Belle Palmer is showing the lakefront mansion of a prominent businesswoman when she discovers the lady strangled in her bathtub Could this third breakandenter death reveal a serial killer at large in the Nickel Capital The womans only child a precocious twelveyearold comes to stay with Belles neighbours and wins her heart and theirs Then after an argument the boy disappears riding off into the cold September night on his bicycle Racing against time as fall temperatures plummet Belle hooks up with a bumbling PI and joins the search Belle must flee into the bush where she has every chance of becoming lost and disoriented chased by murderers who will stop at nothing to protect a multimilliondollar criminal empire Memories Are Murder Belle Palmers old highschool boyfriend rents a property on her road Zoologist Gary Myers is studying the behaviour of elk in the wilderness but he is soon found drowned Did he fall and hit his head or did a more sinister event occur Meanwhile someone has broken into his cottage taking a camera and laptop A clipping about poisoning on reserves leads Belle to visit the place of his demise Seconds after she arrives she is at gunpoint She must paddle into the bush with no way back Who has been causing havoc in the wilderness and will stop at nothing to cover their crimes