Valley of the Lost (Trafalgar Mystery) [Hardcover]

Vicki Delany (Author)

Book Description

Series: Trafalgar Mystery | Publication Date: February 10, 2009

In the bucolic mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, a young woman is found dead of a heroin overdose, her baby lying at her side. While this should be an open-and-shut drug case, restraint marks on the victim suggest that the death might not have been completely accidental.
As the investigation into the young womanas death and life grows, the case becomes increasingly personal for Probationary Constable Molly Smith and Sergeant John Winters. Only two things are known about the dead woman: her first name is Ashley, and she has a three-month-old baby boy. Who was she? And was this is just a drug deal gone wrong, or is there something more sinister at play? Smithas mother, Lucky, has taken in the orphaned baby: does he hold the key to solving his motheras murder?
Meanwhile, Wintersa wife, Eliza, is considering accepting a modeling contract with the same resort development that seems to be ripping the close-knit community apart. Has the controversial project pushed a member of this quiet community to murder?
Valley of the Lost is the sequel to In the Shadow of the Glacier.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Delany's engaging second mystery to feature Constable Molly Smith (after 2007's In the Shadow of the Glacier), Molly's mother is leaving work one evening at the Trafalgar Women's Support Center in British Columbia when a baby's cry draws her to the nearby woods, where she finds a baby boy, wrapped in a blanket—and the body of a young woman. The victim, presumably the boy's mother, appears to have died from a heroin overdose, but restraint marks on her wrists point to foul play. Molly and her mentor, Sgt. John Winters, comb Trafalgar in an effort to identify the woman. After discovering that her first name was Ashley, the police officers learn that the developer of a controversial new resort being built outside of town had a heated argument with Ashley shortly before she died. Delaney explores the social dynamics of a small mountain community as well as deftly handling the plot's twists and turns as it builds to a pulse-pounding conclusion. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Lucky Smith finds a young woman, dead of a heroin overdose, and her infant son, Miller, when she is leaving the Women’s Support Center for the day. When it turns out the woman shows signs of having been restrained, Trafalgar, British Columbia, Sergeant John Winters investigates her murder with the help of Probationary Constable Molly Smith, Lucky’s daughter. Meanwhile, Molly is still recovering from the death of her fiancé, and Lucky volunteers to take Miller in until his relatives can be found. This second Molly Smith mystery, following In the Shadow of the Glacier (2007), again contrasts the beautiful British Columbia wilderness, vividly described by Delany, with the sober realities of contemporary crime, in this case, murder and drug use. Molly, a dedicated cop determined to succeed in what is primarily a man’s profession, makes an engaging lead character. --Sue O'Brien

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 291 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 edition (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159058595X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590585955
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vicki Delany began her writing career as a Sunday writer: a single mother of three high-spirited daughters with a full-time job as a computer programmer. Sunday afternoon was - and at that, only now and again - the only time she had to spend all by herself, with a single candle on her desk for a bit of atmosphere, a Bruce Springsteen tape in the tape deck, and a nice cup of tea at her elbow. When she felt like really letting loose, the tea might have turned into a glass of wine.

The years passed, as they tend to do, and the three daughters, somewhat hesitantly, flew the coop, leaving Vicki more time to devote to her writing. She was able to write three novels of suspense, set in Ontario, two of which, Scare the Light Away and Burden of Memory were published to critical acclaim by Poisoned Pen Press of Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 2007, Vicki took early retirement from her job as a systems analyst with a major bank and sold her house in Oakville, Ontario. At that time In the Shadow of the Glacier, the first book in a police procedural series set in the British Columbia Interior was published. After travelling around North America for a year with her dog, Shenzi, she bought a home in bucolic, rural Prince Edward County, Ontario, where she rarely wears a watch and can write whenever she feels like it.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Vicki was raised mostly in Ontario. As a young woman, fresh from quitting Carleton University in a huff in the middle of her final year, she travelled to South Africa where she promptly met a man, married him, and produced the aforesaid three daughters. Eleven years later, Vicki returned to Canada. Of her experiences in Africa she will only say that it gave her insight into to the politics of power and oppression that few Canadians get to experience.

Vicki majored in modern history at Carleton University, her interest more in the lives of ordinary women and men and the circumstances of their times than 'big men' and their wars. It was on a canoeing trip in Algonquin Park that Vicki, realizing that she was doing for fun what people in the past would have considered a hardship, told her trip mates stories about the incredible difficulties people endured in their attempts to get to the Klondike in search of gold, and the idea for a series of Klondike Gold Rush mysteries was set.

She writes in several different subgenres: Standalone novels of suspense (Scare the Light Away, Burden of Memory from Poisoned Pen Press), traditionl village/police procedural (The Constable Molly Smith Series from PPP - latest, Winter of Secrets) and the lighthearted Klondike Gold Rush series (Gold Digger, Gold Fever from Rendezvous Crime).

Vicki is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, and Capital Crime Writers, and is on the board of Wolfe Island's Scene of the Crime Mystery Festival.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valley Of The Lost, February 28, 2009

By 

D.J. McIntosh "D.J. McIntosh" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valley of the Lost (Trafalgar Mystery) (Hardcover)

New and interesting settings encourage me to take a second look at a book and I loved the scenes in this one - the mountain village of Trafalgar, a place of last resort for transients and ex-hippies in the rugged and beautiful British Columbia Kootenays. The plot gets strong kick start when an abandoned baby lying near his dead mother is discovered on the murky, brush strewn slopes of a forest. Equal to the mystery is Molly Smith, a young, ambitious constable eager to prove herself. I found the interplay between Molly and her mentor, Sergeant John Winters, really convincing. I also liked watching relationships between the town's characters unfold as we're caught up in the central intrigue. A very good read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, March 5, 2009

By 

Madeleine G. Harris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Valley of the Lost (Trafalgar Mystery) (Hardcover)

Valley of the Lost is an engaging, light-toned police procedural that doesn't shy away from exploring social problems in a small west coast town: underage pregnancy, sexual interference and illegal drugs. Constable Molly Smith is a sympathetic protagonist new to the job who must contend with a demanding boss and her aging hippy parents. Plenty of humour when her parents' views of the justice system and marihuana grow-ops don't quite line up with her own.

5.0 out of 5 stars A drug deal turns into something more dangerous in this riveting novel perfect for any mystery collection, November 16, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valley of the Lost (Trafalgar Mystery) (Hardcover)

In a Canadian mountain town a young woman is discovered dead of a heroin overdose, her baby at her side. But the death may not be entirely accidental - and a growing investigation brings personal conflict for Probationary Constable Molly Smith and Sergeant John Winters. Who was the victim? A drug deal turns into something more dangerous in this riveting novel perfect for any mystery collection.