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24-Carat Murder
Mack Dearling, an American lawyer turned Yukon Mountie, wakes from a drunken stupor to find a dead local teacher and a large New York rat gnawing on her remains. Faced with the blinding question—does anything on earth wield more power than a global bank?—Mack refuses to accept the answer. Instead he tracks his giant quarry from Canada’s untamed North to its well-heeled Pacific coast and to Ketchikan, Alaska.
Setting aside pesky police procedures, Mack and his partner, Ron Redfox, narrow the field to one slippery prime suspect with significant friends. But when the body count grows and the cadre of bad guys expands to an army, Mack marshals a secret weapon to make justice prevail.
Meanwhile, on the home front, Mack is tangling with Lara Towne, the sexy new teacher who’s got nowhere to live except in his B & B. She’s gorgeous and quirky and lets her opinions fly. One day she tells him, “On the subject of size, you know that thing we talked about? That’s always been a pet peeve of mine because there’s nothing wrong with a small one. It hits the G-spot perfectly.” Say what?
Just when Mack thinks he’s got a grasp on their budding romance, he uncovers specters in Lara’s past which threaten to douse the flames of his desire. As sparks fly on the home front, the couple stumbles and falls. Can they master the steps to forgiveness and dance their way to love?
Told with insight, charm, and wit, this intelligent, gripping tale ratchets up the tension until readers are hooked, yet is peppered with enough bizarre antics to keep readers chuckling.
Fans of this book can revisit Chaseville, Yukon, and all its intriguing inhabitants in Book #2, Murder on Ice, available in 2014.
Setting aside pesky police procedures, Mack and his partner, Ron Redfox, narrow the field to one slippery prime suspect with significant friends. But when the body count grows and the cadre of bad guys expands to an army, Mack marshals a secret weapon to make justice prevail.
Meanwhile, on the home front, Mack is tangling with Lara Towne, the sexy new teacher who’s got nowhere to live except in his B & B. She’s gorgeous and quirky and lets her opinions fly. One day she tells him, “On the subject of size, you know that thing we talked about? That’s always been a pet peeve of mine because there’s nothing wrong with a small one. It hits the G-spot perfectly.” Say what?
Just when Mack thinks he’s got a grasp on their budding romance, he uncovers specters in Lara’s past which threaten to douse the flames of his desire. As sparks fly on the home front, the couple stumbles and falls. Can they master the steps to forgiveness and dance their way to love?
Told with insight, charm, and wit, this intelligent, gripping tale ratchets up the tension until readers are hooked, yet is peppered with enough bizarre antics to keep readers chuckling.
Fans of this book can revisit Chaseville, Yukon, and all its intriguing inhabitants in Book #2, Murder on Ice, available in 2014.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 20, 2013
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Elle Maxwell
4 books2 followersWhen I was twelve, after spending four years in a special class for gifted children and after winning the highest award for academic excellence in that class, I wanted to be: a secretary, a teacher, a farmer, and an artist. I have no idea why!
I achieved those dreams in varying degrees, and in that order. Just think, if I had wanted to be a talk show host, a media mogul, and an iconic success who overcame a disadvantaged childhood, you might have heard of me by now!
My best friend in that class wrote her first full-length novel when she was ten. In the darkness cast by that friend's shadow, I thought I couldn't write. I recall how aggrieved my friend was when I won a writing contest and read my story to the class. At that time, we both thought my talents lay in visual arts.
As a teenager, I wanted to be a fashion designer, but the only fashion design schools were in New York and Paris, not in Western Canada where I was growing up. I applied to the Traphagen School in New York and was accepted. Because I needed to earn the tuition fees and living expenses myself, I went to college and took a "Secretarial Science" course in order to get a higher paying job. Someone should have told me I'd make more money as a waitress. And I never discovered what "science" secretarial work entailed. Were all bosses bacteria? None of mine were!
I never made it to New York to study fashion, but I designed and sewed my own clothes and made a one-off collection to help a friend stock his store. My collection sold so quickly that I could have made more, but it didn't pay well and I had that Western Canada problem. This was long before the Project Runway shows gave amateurs a forum.
In my early twenties, a spiritual quest claimed me, and I spent time in a Zen monastery. Before arriving at the monastery, one evening in my home I experienced Kensho - enlightenment. I became the essence of what human beings really are, not what our sense organs and mental processes reflect back to us.
Because of that experience, when I was at the monastery I could answer all the Zen master's koans (theoretical riddles). Of course, it helped that one of the first koans he set for me was, "How do you wash the rice without wetting your hands?" During my enlightened state, I had washed my face, and I understood how to answer. However, I never regained that exact Kensho experience but returned to my usual state of perception.
In my mid-twenties, I was guided to the ashram of an Indian guru and finally found a way to enjoy true and lasting inner fulfillment. I also received lucid answers to all my important questions.
By that time, it was evident that spiritual awareness and spiritual truths came easily to me. But I recognized that the material world - despite its underlying confluence with the spiritual world - presented me with my greatest challenges.
And so I fostered my career, took courses in night school, and eventually secured a position teaching in a community college. I continued to teach fulltime in colleges until I radically changed my life to become a writer.
I allude to many of my life experiences in my books to make them feel real, but the characters are fictional, as are the events.
I am married to a unique and special man whose amazing qualities and gut-busting sense of humor keep me entertained, even in difficult times. I am a privileged Mother to one perfect son.
I hope to join you, my readers, on this marvelous journey of life, knowing that your thoughts and insights are as important as mine. Each human being creates his or her own universe. Welcome to mine!
I achieved those dreams in varying degrees, and in that order. Just think, if I had wanted to be a talk show host, a media mogul, and an iconic success who overcame a disadvantaged childhood, you might have heard of me by now!
My best friend in that class wrote her first full-length novel when she was ten. In the darkness cast by that friend's shadow, I thought I couldn't write. I recall how aggrieved my friend was when I won a writing contest and read my story to the class. At that time, we both thought my talents lay in visual arts.
As a teenager, I wanted to be a fashion designer, but the only fashion design schools were in New York and Paris, not in Western Canada where I was growing up. I applied to the Traphagen School in New York and was accepted. Because I needed to earn the tuition fees and living expenses myself, I went to college and took a "Secretarial Science" course in order to get a higher paying job. Someone should have told me I'd make more money as a waitress. And I never discovered what "science" secretarial work entailed. Were all bosses bacteria? None of mine were!
I never made it to New York to study fashion, but I designed and sewed my own clothes and made a one-off collection to help a friend stock his store. My collection sold so quickly that I could have made more, but it didn't pay well and I had that Western Canada problem. This was long before the Project Runway shows gave amateurs a forum.
In my early twenties, a spiritual quest claimed me, and I spent time in a Zen monastery. Before arriving at the monastery, one evening in my home I experienced Kensho - enlightenment. I became the essence of what human beings really are, not what our sense organs and mental processes reflect back to us.
Because of that experience, when I was at the monastery I could answer all the Zen master's koans (theoretical riddles). Of course, it helped that one of the first koans he set for me was, "How do you wash the rice without wetting your hands?" During my enlightened state, I had washed my face, and I understood how to answer. However, I never regained that exact Kensho experience but returned to my usual state of perception.
In my mid-twenties, I was guided to the ashram of an Indian guru and finally found a way to enjoy true and lasting inner fulfillment. I also received lucid answers to all my important questions.
By that time, it was evident that spiritual awareness and spiritual truths came easily to me. But I recognized that the material world - despite its underlying confluence with the spiritual world - presented me with my greatest challenges.
And so I fostered my career, took courses in night school, and eventually secured a position teaching in a community college. I continued to teach fulltime in colleges until I radically changed my life to become a writer.
I allude to many of my life experiences in my books to make them feel real, but the characters are fictional, as are the events.
I am married to a unique and special man whose amazing qualities and gut-busting sense of humor keep me entertained, even in difficult times. I am a privileged Mother to one perfect son.
I hope to join you, my readers, on this marvelous journey of life, knowing that your thoughts and insights are as important as mine. Each human being creates his or her own universe. Welcome to mine!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 12, 2023
Full bodied dialogues about finance, gold mining and murder
I find it difficult to review this book because I am not sure if my likes and dislikes are justified.
I found the plot and police investigations realistically complicated. This was no CSI plot that is solved quickly. There were layers upon layers of who did what, and just what happened and for goodness sake why?
This book is deeply detailed in gold mine machinations, financial misappropriation and political corruption. Nothing is black and white.
Our protagonist is not a cookie cutter clique cop. He is jerk at times yet caring even loving. Truly dedicated to right the wrongs he perceived whether they are real or not.
I had real difficulty wading through the multiple paragraphs of a single person speaking while having a conversation. On my Kindle, they were 3 or more pages long. The explanations of mining operations also was written in long drawn out pages. While other readers may find it,absolutely fascinating I found it simply too much.
This book fulfills my category for Canada-Yukon for my World Book Challenge
I find it difficult to review this book because I am not sure if my likes and dislikes are justified.
I found the plot and police investigations realistically complicated. This was no CSI plot that is solved quickly. There were layers upon layers of who did what, and just what happened and for goodness sake why?
This book is deeply detailed in gold mine machinations, financial misappropriation and political corruption. Nothing is black and white.
Our protagonist is not a cookie cutter clique cop. He is jerk at times yet caring even loving. Truly dedicated to right the wrongs he perceived whether they are real or not.
I had real difficulty wading through the multiple paragraphs of a single person speaking while having a conversation. On my Kindle, they were 3 or more pages long. The explanations of mining operations also was written in long drawn out pages. While other readers may find it,absolutely fascinating I found it simply too much.
This book fulfills my category for Canada-Yukon for my World Book Challenge
December 27, 2020
Murder! Mayhem! And Mounties!
Nice blend of murder mystery, romance and Yukon travelogue with a body count that keeps it intriguing right to the end. Well worth a read
Nice blend of murder mystery, romance and Yukon travelogue with a body count that keeps it intriguing right to the end. Well worth a read
August 1, 2013
24-Carat Murder is a fast-paced, well-written novel. The characters are believable, and the Yukon setting is described in an accurate way that only someone who is intimately familiar with it can achieve. The whodunit aspect had me guessing throughout, and cheering for the good guys. Elle Maxwell has created a main character, Mack Dearling as an RCMP, who I predict has a long career of crime-solving ahead of him. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
The two "resident" mining/geology experts read this novel before I could get my hands on it and both declared the story to be excellent and the technical aspects of it to be sound. They too are awaiting the next book in the series.
The two "resident" mining/geology experts read this novel before I could get my hands on it and both declared the story to be excellent and the technical aspects of it to be sound. They too are awaiting the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews