If Looks Could Kill

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Vancouver photographer Thomas McCall’s summer gets off to a rocky start when his hearing-impaired 12-year-old daughter arrives for a visit (with pet ferret in tow), his parents’ marriage hits the rocks, his assistant unaccountably botches a batch of film, his girlfriend pushes for a commitment he can’t make, and the houseboat he lives on starts to sink. In other words, the usual complications of a busy life. Nothing he can’t cope with. That is, until Carla, his stunningly beautiful, former lover, walks back into his life, unapologetic for having ripped off his stereo, computer, and expensive (albeit broken) Hassleblad camera when she walked out on him two years earlier. Worse, she now needs McCall to find her a place where she can hide away for a few days, no questions asked. McCall, still hopelessly in lust with her, reluctantly agrees. But Carla never turns up at the hideaway. And now her menacing new boyfriend, Vince, is frantic to find her – so frantic that he turns to McCall for help. What has Carla done to make her run away? What would Vince do to her if he found her? And why, against all sense, does McCall start searching for her – finding so much more than he ever wanted to?Vivid, fast-paced, and funny, If Looks Could Kill was a finalist for the inaugural Chapters/Robertson Davies Prize, whose jurists deemed it the best of the many mysteries they received. It was also shortlisted for the 2001 QSPELL First Novel Award