Christa Loughlin has always had a passion for crime fiction. She attributes that to having six
police officers in her family and listening to their many stories over the years. As a result, she became familiar with the various aspects of policework including procedures and terminology. Christa’s love for murder mysteries grew even more through reading, watching, and listening to anything that left her trying to figure out the who’s and why’s of the story.
Christa had a 28-year career as a Registered Massage Therapist, with a large part of that time spent practicing in Little Britain, Ontario. She recently retired from massage therapy, and is living in Peterborough, Ontario with her husband, Paul, their cat, Scout, and their dog, Dexter—who is absolutely named after the serial killer.
The Pallbearer is a fictional crime thriller.
About the Book – Young women aren’t safe in Oshawa with a sadistic serial killer on the loose. Detective Sergeant Hannah Phillips is fierce and dogged as she tirelessly works to find out who is behind the abductions and murders of young women around the Ontario city. After one of the missing women is found alive, Hannah and her Durham Regional Police Service special task force, hope to finally solve the mystery and put a stop to The Pallbearer once and for all.
At the centre of the police investigation into the The Pallbearer is Matt Davidson, the son of a wealthy and renowned plastic surgeon. Matt continues to find himself on the wrong side of the law, being charged for criminal offenses multiple times in the past three years. He claims he is innocent and being framed but nobody—not even his father—believes him.
When Matt’s charges are upgraded to murder, he finds an unlikely ally in Bobby Ross, a
tenacious investigative reporter with a Toronto newspaper.
Meanwhile, Kelly Griggs awakens alone in a cold, dark room, held captive and tormented by the Pallbearer. She scrambles to find an escape before her captor exerts his twisted desires.
Slowly, dark secrets from the past are revealed, and the present becomes clearer. Can Hannah solve the mystery and save Kelly before it’s too late?
Who is The Pallbearer?
For more information, please visit www.christaloughlin.com
For Mark Whelan, Private Investigator, it all begins in a sombre but entirely unremarkable way: a visit to the morgue to provide moral support to a client as he formally identifies his brother. But Whelan’s interest is piqued by a link between the victim’s death and Whelan’s own youth and by signs that the death is the result of something darker than the “accident” being suggested by the police. The appearance of a mysterious message from the dead man, the discovery that his apartment had been burgled, and an attempt on Whelan’s life prove that something else, something very valuable, is in play. Then the bodies begin to pile up. Balsam Sirens tells the story of a private investigator who takes on a case that appears routine, but who is soon swept to the edge of a psychological abyss by the abduction of his wife. Whelan, a PI colleague, and an unlikely ally – a fearless bush pilot called Kate – drive the action forward to a gun battle and a surprising outcome.
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