An Accusing Finger: An Inspector Armitage Mystery

by Richard E. Gower

A man's violent, early-morning death on the freezing pavement of a west-end convenience store parking lot in Canada's capital city appears at first to be just another random act of gang violence. But is it? The dead man has no identification, and his associate has mysteriously vanished. One of the victim's fingerprints is linked to the unsolved murder of a young woman more than twenty years earlier. When Inspector Matt Armitage begins investigating the cold case, he uncovers a second, identical, unsolved murder. This one took place years later, in another city, in another country. As he works to close the case, Armitage discovers that cutting through red tape can cause serious, self-inflicted wounds. Even if he were not a police officer, Inspector Matt Armitage of the Ottawa Police Service would be an imposing figure. He stands seventy-six inches tall in his dress socks, with a big-boned athletic frame, a thick shock of dark hair, and intense, piercing eyes the colour of Antarctic ice. He has an unblemished service record, but Armitage will probably never be promoted. His bosses believe he has one unforgivable he puts people first. He is a cop's cop, operating in a milieu that rewards careerism and mediocrity, and punishes anyone who threatens the system's status quo or the self-interest of the top brass. An Accusing Finger was a Chanticleer Clue Awards finalist.

Genres: Procedural

342 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2025

Reviews

[Sarah P Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific whodunnit, with a sharply rendered in-depth look at police procedures and the inner workings of the mind of Inspector Matt Armitage of the Ottawa Police Service as he pursues a varied cast of criminals, including the wonderfully named Shrek Campeau.

The story starts with the murder of what appears to be a randomly chosen, hard-to-identify man outside a convenience store. The man seems to be the victim of gang violence...but then one of his fingerprints is linked to a 20-year-old cold case murder in another country. And the hunt is on.

Gower has masterfully crafted an intricate tale of street life, international intrigue, and the slogging work of dedicated police teams weighed down by life-sucking bureaucracy. The city of Ottawa is a major character in this story, with all its flaws and beauty. And Armitage is another character you won't soon forget: big, powerful, driven by integrity and loyalty to his people--but not necessarily to his superiors. A great read!

[Richard Gower]

An Accusing Finger is the first book in my planned mystery/crime-fiction police-procedural series set in Ottawa, Canada. It was officially released on 15 August, 2025 and is available online, and in (some) bookstores. The publisher is headquartered in the U.K. with a North American office in New York so the marketing started first in the U.K. and some bookstores there are listing and stocking it, as well some in Europe and Scandinavia. The North American marketing is spooling up so it should be available on shelves in North America soon.
Many thanks to all the great professionals who have been a part of the publishing process and to everyone who has bought a copy. RG