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Karl Alberg #3
A Chill Rain in January: Murder in a Small Town
In a small village on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, Zoe Strachan has carefully tucked away a secret past and is living a secluded, private, and happy life. But when her brother arrives on the scene with incriminating childhood diaries--and a blackmail demand--Zoe's fate falls into the hands of Royal Mounted Police Staff Sergeant Karl Allberg, who must use all his wits to unravel the mystery.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
750 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
About the author
L.R. Wright
17 books105 followersL.R. Wright was born Laurali Rose Appleby on 5 June 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Known as Bunny, Wright grew up in Saskatoon and in Abbotsford, British Columbia. She worked as a reporter in Calgary before becoming a full-time writer in 1977. After publishing her fourth book, Wright returned to school, receiving an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University. She taught writing at the University of British Columbia and wrote adaptations for several of her books for radio, film, and television. L.R. Wright died of breast cancer on 25 February 2001.
Series:
* Karl Alberg
* Eddie Henderson
Awards
Arthur Ellis Award: Novel
* 1991 – A Chill Rain in January – Winner
* 1996 – Mother Love – Winner
Series:
* Karl Alberg
* Eddie Henderson
Awards
Arthur Ellis Award: Novel
* 1991 – A Chill Rain in January – Winner
* 1996 – Mother Love – Winner
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 20, 2021
An old lady escapes from hospital and a search is undertaken. At another house, a man falls to his death down a staircase. These two stories intertwine in this instalment as Karl Alberg must determine whether a murder has been committed, find the missing lady and hire a cleaning lady. Another well written instalment in the series. Not a true mystery as the reader knows the answers, but suspenseful.
December 11, 2019
Wright has a gift for creating unique protagonists and villains. No one is purely black and/or white. In this case, Staff Sargeant Karl Alberg, RCMP, is still trying to adjust to life as a divorced parent living in a small community far from his ex and their daughters. He likes his small community of Sechelt, knowing most of his neighbors, and the relative lack of serious crime.
Senior Ramona Orlitzki has gone walk about from the nursing home floor of the local hospital. Ramona, a popular local woman, has become increasingly vague and confused as she aged; some moments she seems fine, others she is lost. What state was she in when she packed up a few items of clothing and walked out of the hospital? Where is she now?
Near the same time, reclusive Zoe Strachan gets a visit from her brother. Benjamin has had a succession of jobs and marriages, but hasn’t succeeded in them. He always needs money. In contrast, Zoe has carefully managed hers and is comfortably independent. Benjamin has tried to borrow money unsuccessfully from Zoe before, so this time he tries blackmail. Zoe is an interesting woman with an uncontrollable temper and a serious lack of empathy. She has used a diary of sorts, her scribblers, to help diffuse her rage. Benjamin found a few with some incriminating information. Zoe is comfortable with the accommodations she has made in life. She is not going to let Benjamin destroy it.
The two stories interweave with escalating suspense. This is a very satisfying mystery for anyone who enjoys a good story, well-developed characters, and unexpected plotting. Highly recommended as a title and a series.
Readalikes:
Louise Penny’s Three Pines Armand Gamache series; Tim Johnston – The Current; Robert Dugoni – My Sister’s Grave; Kelley Armstrong – City of the Lost; Giles Blunt – Forty Words for Sorrow; Inger Ash Wolfe – The Calling; J.A. Menzies – Shadow of a Butterfly; J.E. Barnard – When the Flood Falls; Kjell Eriksson – The Princess of Burundi.
Pace: Fast
Characters: Complex, interesting; most are likeable
Story: Intricately plotted
Writing style: Compelling
Tone: Suspenseful; strong sense of place
Frame: Sunshine Coast, B.C. Canada; contemporary
Theme: Small town police
Senior Ramona Orlitzki has gone walk about from the nursing home floor of the local hospital. Ramona, a popular local woman, has become increasingly vague and confused as she aged; some moments she seems fine, others she is lost. What state was she in when she packed up a few items of clothing and walked out of the hospital? Where is she now?
Near the same time, reclusive Zoe Strachan gets a visit from her brother. Benjamin has had a succession of jobs and marriages, but hasn’t succeeded in them. He always needs money. In contrast, Zoe has carefully managed hers and is comfortably independent. Benjamin has tried to borrow money unsuccessfully from Zoe before, so this time he tries blackmail. Zoe is an interesting woman with an uncontrollable temper and a serious lack of empathy. She has used a diary of sorts, her scribblers, to help diffuse her rage. Benjamin found a few with some incriminating information. Zoe is comfortable with the accommodations she has made in life. She is not going to let Benjamin destroy it.
The two stories interweave with escalating suspense. This is a very satisfying mystery for anyone who enjoys a good story, well-developed characters, and unexpected plotting. Highly recommended as a title and a series.
Readalikes:
Louise Penny’s Three Pines Armand Gamache series; Tim Johnston – The Current; Robert Dugoni – My Sister’s Grave; Kelley Armstrong – City of the Lost; Giles Blunt – Forty Words for Sorrow; Inger Ash Wolfe – The Calling; J.A. Menzies – Shadow of a Butterfly; J.E. Barnard – When the Flood Falls; Kjell Eriksson – The Princess of Burundi.
Pace: Fast
Characters: Complex, interesting; most are likeable
Story: Intricately plotted
Writing style: Compelling
Tone: Suspenseful; strong sense of place
Frame: Sunshine Coast, B.C. Canada; contemporary
Theme: Small town police
January 28, 2025
I like this series, mostly for the writing and the setting. The story here is barely a police procedural, and there’s no mystery at all…but the characters unique to this novel are intriguing, and the continuing characters are growing on me.
January 1, 2020
2.4/5
This is an odd one. It's fairly well written most of the time (although sometimes it interrupts conversation scenes with long paragraphs of exposition about a character's background), but it's weirdly structured, told mostly in the POVs of three characters: Zoe Strachan, a middle-aged, seductive psychopath; Ramona Orlitzki, a 75-year-old woman; and Karl Alberg, staff sergeant in the Sunshine Coast division of the RCMP, and apparently the protagonist of this series, yet the least interesting aspect of the whole thing.
It's been a long time since I read a book where the protagonist was almost entirely inconsequential to the main plot of his own novel, but there you are. Alberg is bland and typical, and he serves almost no purpose. It's almost as if Wright struggles sometimes to keep his role in the whole thing relevant, because the conflict that sparks this chain of events didn't need him to get the ball rolling and was hardly affected by him once he got involved.
The most interesting chapters involved Ramona, who escapes her old folks' home and eludes the entire town in her little adventure; and Zoe, the one who did it, whom we see commit murder early on, whom the novel is primarily focused on. She steals the show here. She's cold, detached, and we can feel it. Wright conveys that aspect well. My fingers got a little stiff from how cold she was.
But Zoe's all the novel really has going for it. Everything that occurs in Chill Rain occurs because the story would drag for far too long if it didn't. It occurs for the sake of coincidental convenience. One character just happens to be there, or there, or THERE, even if it doesn't make much logical sense. There's barely a case here. The story is hardly interesting and filled with characters who don't do much, and it is riddled with seemingly endless shortcuts.
Oh, well...
This is an odd one. It's fairly well written most of the time (although sometimes it interrupts conversation scenes with long paragraphs of exposition about a character's background), but it's weirdly structured, told mostly in the POVs of three characters: Zoe Strachan, a middle-aged, seductive psychopath; Ramona Orlitzki, a 75-year-old woman; and Karl Alberg, staff sergeant in the Sunshine Coast division of the RCMP, and apparently the protagonist of this series, yet the least interesting aspect of the whole thing.
It's been a long time since I read a book where the protagonist was almost entirely inconsequential to the main plot of his own novel, but there you are. Alberg is bland and typical, and he serves almost no purpose. It's almost as if Wright struggles sometimes to keep his role in the whole thing relevant, because the conflict that sparks this chain of events didn't need him to get the ball rolling and was hardly affected by him once he got involved.
The most interesting chapters involved Ramona, who escapes her old folks' home and eludes the entire town in her little adventure; and Zoe, the one who did it, whom we see commit murder early on, whom the novel is primarily focused on. She steals the show here. She's cold, detached, and we can feel it. Wright conveys that aspect well. My fingers got a little stiff from how cold she was.
But Zoe's all the novel really has going for it. Everything that occurs in Chill Rain occurs because the story would drag for far too long if it didn't. It occurs for the sake of coincidental convenience. One character just happens to be there, or there, or THERE, even if it doesn't make much logical sense. There's barely a case here. The story is hardly interesting and filled with characters who don't do much, and it is riddled with seemingly endless shortcuts.
Oh, well...
February 23, 2018
Not up to par. A swing and a miss. I guess it's the let-down factor. Especially after reading her strangling compelling book The Suspect which had an eerie, I have to know more, quality. in a Chill Rain in January it seems rushed like the publisher said we need another book by January. Its hard to like a book when you don't like and are bored and you grow weary with the characters. An evil women a sleazy father, an Alzheimers old woman , some wayward kid and of course or overly sensitive repeating characters of the policeman and the librarian continuing in some weird love /hate relationship where of course they end up at the end in each other's arms. The ending was a bail-out where The evil women kills herself. This was only my second book by L.R. Wright and on the power of The Suspect, not this book, A Cold Rain In January I won't give up reading her.
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December 22, 2021Another good read from L.R. Wright. Her stories are not same old, same old. The characters drive the story. If you like good characters in a well defined setting I recommend this series by L.R. Wright.
February 1, 2024
📚🌁🔥NOVEL THOUGHTS🔥🌁📚
Like the fire in the “Canon,” Zoe thought, I have erected bars to live behind, because they give to my life structure, and security.
If you want a quick, well composed read, this is it. It is mystery with a psychological slant of a very disturbed woman, Zoe who lives on a promontory in a little coastal town in British Colombia Canada. She has bought all the property around her so no one can intrude on her solitude with their own home... and she likes it that way. She has spent decades trying to control her anger that bubbles inside her and causes her to rage, so she jogs and refinishes furniture to relieve those emotions. But when her estranged brother Benjamin comes to her doorstep, which Zoe guesses if for money, her rage cannot be contained because he wants to "sell" her back some, as she calls then scribblers, which contain darkly sinister thoughts that she wrote when she was 12 years old. If these get out, Benjamin knows, could land Zoe in a lot of trouble.
Then there is Ramona, a 75 year old woman who has been moved by her family and doctor to a wing in the hospital which cares for the elderly who are starting to show signs of dementia. Since she lives alone, the worry is she will have some disaster befall her but she doesn't have to like it, especially because she can't have her daily dose of gin! She decides that enough of that and escapes the hospital in search of what is familiar to her and heads back to her own house being rented by another couple. When the police are called in to find her, Ramona has been very careful not to be discovered and will spend the next week on the lamb, enjoying her gin!
Karl Alberg, the chief of the local Mounties, is hunting for answers to the disappearance of Ramona and the death of Benjamin who is found at the bottom of Zoe's basement stairs, while he is trying to live his own life as a divorced man whose children are far from his home living with their mother and growing up, graduating from college.
I really enjoyed this read, the writing and the vast and well developed characters. Zoe's is particularly haunting and the reader really wonders how this spiteful nature was developed in her or was she born with it. She obviously has OCD tendencies but also is so unable to quell her anger issues except by keeping people at a distance. While this is an older book, crime is crime in any decade!
Like the fire in the “Canon,” Zoe thought, I have erected bars to live behind, because they give to my life structure, and security.
If you want a quick, well composed read, this is it. It is mystery with a psychological slant of a very disturbed woman, Zoe who lives on a promontory in a little coastal town in British Colombia Canada. She has bought all the property around her so no one can intrude on her solitude with their own home... and she likes it that way. She has spent decades trying to control her anger that bubbles inside her and causes her to rage, so she jogs and refinishes furniture to relieve those emotions. But when her estranged brother Benjamin comes to her doorstep, which Zoe guesses if for money, her rage cannot be contained because he wants to "sell" her back some, as she calls then scribblers, which contain darkly sinister thoughts that she wrote when she was 12 years old. If these get out, Benjamin knows, could land Zoe in a lot of trouble.
Then there is Ramona, a 75 year old woman who has been moved by her family and doctor to a wing in the hospital which cares for the elderly who are starting to show signs of dementia. Since she lives alone, the worry is she will have some disaster befall her but she doesn't have to like it, especially because she can't have her daily dose of gin! She decides that enough of that and escapes the hospital in search of what is familiar to her and heads back to her own house being rented by another couple. When the police are called in to find her, Ramona has been very careful not to be discovered and will spend the next week on the lamb, enjoying her gin!
Karl Alberg, the chief of the local Mounties, is hunting for answers to the disappearance of Ramona and the death of Benjamin who is found at the bottom of Zoe's basement stairs, while he is trying to live his own life as a divorced man whose children are far from his home living with their mother and growing up, graduating from college.
I really enjoyed this read, the writing and the vast and well developed characters. Zoe's is particularly haunting and the reader really wonders how this spiteful nature was developed in her or was she born with it. She obviously has OCD tendencies but also is so unable to quell her anger issues except by keeping people at a distance. While this is an older book, crime is crime in any decade!
March 17, 2026
I listened to this audiobook. This series, set on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia is a good one. Karl Alberg is the staff sergeant in charge of the RCMP post in a small town on the coast. One of the nice things about the audio version is that there are multiple narrators and it adds another spark of interest. One of the main stories is about a dementia patient who escapes from the hospital and hides from everyone. Ramona has moments of clarity, but also loses time and perspective on her little adventure. The other story revolves around a mentally disturbed woman named Zoewho kills her brother when he tries to blackmail her in order to get his hands on her shares in a mining company. Zoe's story goes back and forth from her childhood to the present where we learn the disturbing truth about her. Karl and all the town's people are looking for the slippery Ramona when Karl is called to Zoe's house because her brother "fell" down the stairs and died while visiting her. Karl is slow on the uptake about Zoe because she is very seductive and he is quite randy. But, eventually, his real brain kicks in and he realizes no matter how attractive she is, there is something definitely wrong with Zoe and her brother's son whom she is basically holding hostage. I really liked the unusual plot.
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October 13, 2024My friend Natalie told me about this series a few years ago. They were not on audio at the time, so I bought one on Kindle and read it. Now they are coming out on audio. This is the latest one to be availalble.
Additionally, there is now a TV show, Murder in a Small Town, based on the books. I have Karl Alberg everywhere.
The TV recreated this book badly, so I was pleased to realize that the story was fuller, more nuanced and more detailed. While the scenes in the TV episode are int he book, the book more fully explains what is going on. The good part of the TV episode was that Stana Katic played Zoe Strachan. I miss Stana Katic on Castle, so it was good to see her. As I read the book, I imagined Zoe with Stana's face.
The book was much better than the TV episode and all the elements made sense.
Additionally, there is now a TV show, Murder in a Small Town, based on the books. I have Karl Alberg everywhere.
The TV recreated this book badly, so I was pleased to realize that the story was fuller, more nuanced and more detailed. While the scenes in the TV episode are int he book, the book more fully explains what is going on. The good part of the TV episode was that Stana Katic played Zoe Strachan. I miss Stana Katic on Castle, so it was good to see her. As I read the book, I imagined Zoe with Stana's face.
The book was much better than the TV episode and all the elements made sense.
February 9, 2025
Ok…I am hooked. This is the third that I have read in the series. Karl and Cassandra are finally moving towards a relationship. I like them both. Zoe, a character in this book, is definitely a sociopath AND a psychopath. The author creates believable scenarios that suck the reader into the plot. The appearance of a 9 year old boy was a surprise. The little old lady that ran away from the care home and hung out in other people’s residences added some suspense as I KNEW she was destined to cross paths with Zoe. The fact that Zoe was so attractive to ALL MALES, including Karl, was fun and intriguing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2021
Zoe was a very different, difficult child whose parents tried their best to keep her happy and from doing mean, terrible things to others. She hated her older brother and tolerated her parents.
She started keeping track of her thoughts and her actions in scribblers; some of which went missing during a move into Vancouver.
A thriller and page turner for sure; it is hard to believe one so young could be so evil and when her brother tries to blackmail her about what is written in her scribblers, we discover how deceitful, evil and wicked she can really be. Other lives meant nothing to her....
She started keeping track of her thoughts and her actions in scribblers; some of which went missing during a move into Vancouver.
A thriller and page turner for sure; it is hard to believe one so young could be so evil and when her brother tries to blackmail her about what is written in her scribblers, we discover how deceitful, evil and wicked she can really be. Other lives meant nothing to her....
July 13, 2021
Sliding Sideways
Reading this one, I felt like I was sitting in a bumper car sliding sideways, spinning a little out of control. Odd that, when the antagonist was also, altho keeping tight control over herself. This book reminded me of a few others, and a movie or two. Think Cathy in Steinbeck’s East of Eden for example.
Mixed in with it is the continuing thread of romance between Karl and Cassandra. There’s a lot said with them, altho the real communication seems to be between the words.
Reading this one, I felt like I was sitting in a bumper car sliding sideways, spinning a little out of control. Odd that, when the antagonist was also, altho keeping tight control over herself. This book reminded me of a few others, and a movie or two. Think Cathy in Steinbeck’s East of Eden for example.
Mixed in with it is the continuing thread of romance between Karl and Cassandra. There’s a lot said with them, altho the real communication seems to be between the words.
July 4, 2019
The 3rd book in the Karl Alberg series. Not a police procedural and one of the darkest so far in the series. Zoe is strange from the time she is born. She doesn't like cats, people, but mainly she doesn't like her brother, Benjamin. She is angry all the time and finds very extreme ways to assuage her anger. Wright loses her sense of humor in this one, but has still written a good novel without it being a mystery.
February 9, 2025
Having watched the television series, I am now making my way through the books on which the show is based.
The episode based on this third book had actress Stana Katic as Zoe. She was also a star of the show Castle where she played a beloved character. Watching her play a bad guy on Murder in a Small Town was quite unsettling.
A friend and I are both reading these books and discussing them along the way. I look forward to book number four.
The episode based on this third book had actress Stana Katic as Zoe. She was also a star of the show Castle where she played a beloved character. Watching her play a bad guy on Murder in a Small Town was quite unsettling.
A friend and I are both reading these books and discussing them along the way. I look forward to book number four.
May 27, 2025
This was a fast and excellent read. I couldn't wait to pick it up each time. A strange but beautiful woman reports her brother's death after he falls down her basement stairs, but Karl is suspicious that there's something more to it. Also, an elderly woman has run away from her care home. This was entertaining following her around as she makes life comfortable for herself. Highly recommended.
August 26, 2025
A Perfectly Pleasant Small Town Murder
Karl Alberg is the Mounties Staff as argent in charge of the are belt station on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. You can only get there by ferry and its very much an insular existence. So when Benjamin falls down the stairs, breaks his neck and dies at his gorgeous sister Zoe's house, Karl's inclination is its probably just what it appears
to be. But.life is not that simple.and.straightforward.
Karl Alberg is the Mounties Staff as argent in charge of the are belt station on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. You can only get there by ferry and its very much an insular existence. So when Benjamin falls down the stairs, breaks his neck and dies at his gorgeous sister Zoe's house, Karl's inclination is its probably just what it appears
to be. But.life is not that simple.and.straightforward.
December 8, 2025
A friend let me this book, upon which the Murders in a Small Town TV series is based, because she knows I enjoy the Louise Penny mystery books also set in Canada. However there is no comparison. This book was a superficial escape read with stereotypical characters whereas Louise Penny writes deep psychological thrillers based upon complex events. Enjoy LR Wright at the pool or the beach. But savor Penny for great insight and good book club discussion.
February 27, 2024
Hell of a good read and yet disturbing. Wrights sociopathic character is so accurate it was a bit hard to read. So scary to know there are people out there like that and so many of them among us.
Least fave of the series so far but still a great read and still enjoyable. Managed to score my own copy of the next so I’m stoked to move on to that.
Least fave of the series so far but still a great read and still enjoyable. Managed to score my own copy of the next so I’m stoked to move on to that.
January 30, 2025
I had a little trouble reading this book. When I read books that are on TV, I picture the characters has a I am reading this book. I did not like the one character on the show which made it hard for me to read. Don't get me wrong the book was very good. But I glad that I am done reading it. On to the next book
September 8, 2025
There’s something quietly captivating about A Chill Rain in January. The Sunshine Coast setting seeps into every page, shaping the mood and almost becoming a character itself. Reading this book feels like peering through a crack in someone’s wall—watching their gestures, noticing their habits, and slowly unraveling exactly who they are.
December 14, 2025
A thoughtfully written, atmospheric mystery with a quiet, lingering darkness beneath the surface. L.R. Wright’s subtle style and strong sense of place make this a satisfying read. I’ve enjoyed spending time with the first three books in the series, and this feels like a natural point for me to pause before moving on to book four.
September 29, 2018
#3 In this great series about a Canadian Mountie, Staff Sergeant in British Columbia on the sunshine coast. An elderly woman walks out of on old age home a strange beautiful woman pushes her brother down her cellar stairs,killing him. Not a spoiler for ending
August 25, 2023
Two eccentric old women, two notebooks from years ago, attempted blackmail, murder make for a fascinating case for RCMP Sergeant Alberg. Well written and characterized. I want to seek out the author's other books.
July 31, 2025
Great Canadian mystery
This high quality, award winning Canadian mystery is a compelling blend of detailed storytelling and interesting characters. I'll definitely read more books in this series!
This high quality, award winning Canadian mystery is a compelling blend of detailed storytelling and interesting characters. I'll definitely read more books in this series!
September 12, 2025
Karl and Cassandra are actually superfluous to this story!
Demented runaway Ramona and Zoe, the sociopath whose isolation and "rules" protect other people from her murderous rage dominate. Zoe's brother was a desperate fool who should have known better.
Demented runaway Ramona and Zoe, the sociopath whose isolation and "rules" protect other people from her murderous rage dominate. Zoe's brother was a desperate fool who should have known better.
October 9, 2025
Excellent
This book made me nervous because I was afraid of what might happen next and I still couldn’t put it down. I loved all the quirky characters that added a little lighter note to the story.
This book made me nervous because I was afraid of what might happen next and I still couldn’t put it down. I loved all the quirky characters that added a little lighter note to the story.
November 21, 2025
This was an interestingly odd one, but very good. You know who the "bad guy" is pretty early on, but the way it unfolds is so interesting. The characters in this town give you a bit of an insight into why this became a TV series and a very very good one at that!
January 16, 2026
Everything I love in a murder mystery
This is the first book I’ve read in the Albert & Cassandra series, but I have become invested and have to read them all now.
It has everything I enjoy in a murder mystery book.
This is the first book I’ve read in the Albert & Cassandra series, but I have become invested and have to read them all now.
It has everything I enjoy in a murder mystery book.
January 27, 2026
I'm not sure what to say.
Not really a whodunit. Our hero doesn't show up much.
Two old women take the stage, each with their own problems.
Wasn't hard to figure out, and too quiet perhaps.
Hope the next one is better.
Not really a whodunit. Our hero doesn't show up much.
Two old women take the stage, each with their own problems.
Wasn't hard to figure out, and too quiet perhaps.
Hope the next one is better.
March 23, 2026
I'VE READ ONE OTHER BOOK IN THIS SERIES; I REALLY LOVE THIS SERIES ON FOX. SOME OF THE CHARACTERS ARE A LITTLE WEIRD AND THE MAIN TWO CHARACTERS HAVE SOME REALL-LLY DISLIKABLE RELATIVES. I WANTED TO BITCH SLAP THEM. ;D
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews