The K Handshape

Christine Morris #2

by Maureen Jennings

Short-listed for the 2009 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel

Christine Morris is awakened early on a chill November morning by a phone call from one of her colleagues, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Leo Forgach. His daughter, Deirdre, is missing. Despite the fact that she and the doctor have never seen eye to eye, Christine agrees to help him search for Deirdre — only to discover her brutally strangled body in the lake.

Heartbroken, Leo tells Christine that his daughter was deaf and had recently given birth to a child she had deliberately ensured would be deaf. As a militant suporter of the Deaf Culture, Deirdre wanted a deaf child to make a political statement. Although some people supported her stand, many did not — including Deirdre's own father. Christine must use her new kills as a forensic profiler to discover the killer.

Genres: Mystery, Canada, Fiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Maureen Jennings, now a Canadian Citizen, was born on Eastfield Road in Birmingham, England and spent her formative years there until she emigrated to Canada at the age of seventeen with her mother.

This has meant that she still feels a deep connection with her homeland. It has also no doubt been a strong influence in her love for, and her writing about, the Victorian period. She attended the University of Windsor where she attained a BA in philosophy and psychology.

A couple of years trying to decide what she really wanted to do with her life resulted in her returning to university, the University of Toronto, this time where she earned an MA in English literature.For the next eight years, she taught English at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute at a time when the English department seemed to be chock full of writers. Eric Wright, went on to write the highly successful Charlie Salter mystery series, Graeme Gibson, Peter Such, and others were writing both novels and poetry. An exciting time in so many ways but after eight years, another change of direction and in 1972, Maureen left Ryerson to become a psychotherapist, which was a long time interest. She has continued in private practice since then, although nowadays she mostly conducts creative expression groups and writes. Always passionate about dogs, she is happy to own a border collie named Jeremy-Brett and a mixed breed named Varley.

Series:
* Detective Murdoch
* Christine Morris
* Detective Inspector Tom Tyler

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been averaging a Maureen Jennings book each week over the last 10 weeks. This was the most recent one I had finished. I have been bouncing around between here 4 series. Loved this story and the other in the Christine Morris mystery that I read. And I sincerely hope we will get more Christine Morrie mysteries to read at some point in the future. This novel was shortlisted for the Author Ellis Award for best novel in 2009. And as of the writing of this review it has been 11 years since a book has been published in this series. But considering how many years passed between the Detective Murdoch books 7 and 8 we can hope!

This volume continues sometime after the first book in the series. And it is a story filled with tension and stress right from the first pages. The story begins with Christie Morris and a colleague Dr. Leo Forgach fishing his own dead daughter from the water near the peer in small town Orillia, Ontario. And the tension and conflict that begins there ratchets up and through out the whole story. Christine and Leo both work for the behavioral science unit. They become part of the investigation. And Christine must walk a fine line between her team, the police investigating, and finding a way to both handle and support Leo through this ordeal.

In this story we have a murdered young woman. An elderly lady assaulted. We have the son of s shrink who has major mother issues. Christine is dealing with a boyfriend across the ocean, and a best friend in hospital with both heart and cancer concerns. And we have a young deaf girl who just wants to know where her mother is. The story has a strong element of deaf culture, and interactions between, deaf, partially deaf and the hearing abled. The story races from start to finish. And is a very hard book to put down. Unlike other books by Jennings that I have raced through in a day or two, reading this one was spread out over several days, and I found myself continuously thinking about the story and wondering where it would go next.

If I am honest, I can state I figured it out fairly early. But at first it was just a guess, and then the clues slowly started piling up. But it was still an excellent read. Especially returning to Christine’s relationship with her mother, and the years of issues there that still need to be worked through.

I rated this book 5/5 stars and sis the same for the other book in this series. Of the 10 books I have read by Jennings, it is my favorite that is not a Murdoch story. It is very well written, and ties together many story lines and elements into a fascinating mystery, with some excellent side twists and plot lines to keep it intensely interesting. An excellent mystery novel, if you have not read the Christine Morris series or any of Jennings works, this is an excellent read that I highly recommend!

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Maureen Jennings.

[Tina Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book..it is set in the city I live in and includes references to the OPP headquarters, landmarks within the city and Casino Rama as well as what I believe to be the trailer park where our trailer is located. The story was intriguing as well..I am going to read it again soon..
This was the only book of Maureen's that I have read so far. I enjoy the TV series Murdoch Mysteries so I will read some of those books soon.
I look forward to more Maureen Jennings books.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in the series about the female profiler. This one is set in a town near Toronto and features deaf culture. I found that interesting since I have some experience with deaf students and colleagues. The title refers to the ASL sign for "kill." I would recommend reading the two books in order, this one second after "Does your Mother Know?".

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent procedural but without the slight cozy feeling of the first in the series and a rather lickety-split ending that summarizes everything that might ever happen without telling enough. Definitely 3.5 stars, not up to Jennings’s usual standards.

[Elaine Bougie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start, wishy washy ending. I generally enjoyed the main character and the scenarios around deaf culture and the dysfunctional family of the murdered woman. The more the mystery came to light, though, the more things became a little tired.

Like many, I found the trail of bread crumbs to the culprit a little thickly laid. A friend of mine with psychology credentials has bemoaned the psychiatric cliche of the bad and controlling mother behind every crazy actor; this seems to conform to that stereotype.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forensic profiler investigating the murder of a colleague's daughter, helping an old lady, investigating a rape, helping a friend through health problems and a bad relationship, and so forth. She is obviously superhuman... Anyway, everything eventually links together.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Pretty good story, and Jennings connects several threads at the end very well.

References to the TV show "24" took me out of the story, and takes away from the story because there are those who never watched it, and it dates the book.

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish there were more books in this series (is it a series if there are only two?). Gill and Chris operating as a team in the Hebrides would work for me, Ms. Jennings.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was too much going on for one person to handle, which meant that the conclusion of the satellite issues were all resolved in two paragraphs on the last page. There was no evidence of proof-reading or editing. One particularly glaring mistake was when Zach brings out a rifle and it's stated that "Although Zach hadn't raised the rifle, his body was tense and on the alert." Eight pages later, Chris "stayed awake for almost an hour longer, re-experiencing over and over the image of a large young man filled with anger aiming a long-barrelled rifle right at my heart." There were other discrepancies like this, which gradually turned me off the whole story. It had the potential to be a great read but definitely fell flat.

[Jovdb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it well enough. There was a lot going on and Chris was involved in most of it, so she was a very busy person. Even so, couldn't she have found a few minutes to read the report her boyfriend had sent her from Scotland?

So, a young deaf girl is found drowned. Chris and Leo, the girl's estranged father, find her. At the same time, there are old people being attacked in their home and in care facilities.

Many different threads and most were addressed.

I didn't like the fact that the sitter, Nora, was left looking after Joy at the end. A bit irresponsible and surely not legal.

I found the first in the series better but would read another in this series.

[Letitia Moffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Kind of a hot mess. The pacing is erratic -- some sections drag so much and could easily have been trimmed, while others feel like placeholders that Jennings meant to develop more later. There's a sudden dark turn I wasn't expecting, and at one point there were just way too many storylines going at once. For all that, though, this was another engaging read, with believable characters and realistic details.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Maureen Jennings' Murdoch Mysteries series and the Christine Morris ones are just as good.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed both books in this series! Unfortunately, there are only the 2 of them.

[Cybercrone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read.

[Raine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read. Lots going on.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a moral question posed here by Morris in this book. A deaf woman who knowingly plans to have a deaf child to be part of deaf culture. Lots of perspectives on this dilemma.

[ROSEMARY F · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Canadian author I haven't read before. Well paced and in a familiar locale. I will look for other books by this author.

[Mary-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

ORILLIA!

[Lisa Llamrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christine Morris is awakened by a phone call from a colleague, who is concerned about his daughter. They set out, and end up pulling her body from Lake Simcoe. Christine must now find the murderer. Because the deceased was deaf, this leads her into the heart of the deaf community.

While I don't live in Orillia, where the story is set, I am quite close and know it reasonably well. Seeing familiar places in a story is always awesome. The continuing life histories of the major characters are dropped in just enough - even though I haven't read the previous book in the series, I was able to grasp what had happened in Christine's life before this.

I was very pleased to see deaf characters done well, as this is a remarkably rare thing. They are all real, flawed people. The furor around the victim's decision to deliberately have a deaf child is treated with compassion - the author gives a realistic portrayal of public reaction without actually placing blame herself. Well done. Unfortunately, Jennings does, like many authors and filmmakers, give a completely unrealistic idea of how common lipreading is. I've spent my whole life around deaf people and have yet to meet a single person who could watch complete strangers talking and follow the conversation with no audio clues at all. Having deaf people lipread is a convenient plot device, but it rarely happens in real life. Also, the sign for "kill" used by Jennings, from which the book gets its title, is wrong. The sign uses an extended index finger, not the k-handshape. I even looked up an American ASL database, in case it was an American regional sign, but no. My best guess is it's an antiquated sign that has fallen out of favour. Or, possibly, it's one that's used only in the Orillia area? In any event, it threw me out.

Most unfortunate of all, I found the book predictable. I had the killer nailed early on.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally I enjoyed this second-in-the-series of Christine Morris books. This one is set in Orillia, Ontario, with only infrequent mentions of love-interest Gill back in the Hebrides. Downsides: I'd identified the murderer almost immediately and there were quite a few loose ends left hanging (I suppose this is inevitable in a series).

There were quite a few typographical errors in the ebook I was reading - not sure if that's because it was an ebook or if they're in the printed version, too.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story from Maureen Jennings! She does a great job of weaving together a complete and complex plot with well-developed characters. I haven't read the first book in this series, but it made no difference.

Interesting plot point to include deaf culture; that was really interesting and unique.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid second installment in this new contemporary series from Jennings. I still prefer her original series, but I'll keep reading this one as well. It usually takes two or three books for a new detective to hit his or her stride character-wise.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently reading this and working my way through all of Maureen Jennings' books. I am loving the mystery however as others have said there are definitely some proofreading issues. Maureen, have your people contact any of us on GoodReads to proofread the early editions!

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Christine Morris as a character, but this one seemed a little scattered in style, and didn't hold together as well as the first one in the series. I wonder if the character has been put to rest.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the first book, with Christine Morris, better, but this book does see her progress in character more. Continues her story/relationships, and I am looking forward to the new book, to see how things develop. The murder of the deaf mother was interesting.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was interesting, but it was not a page turner because the writing did not grab me. The chief character was constantly being pulled in too many directions at once. I had to keep reminding myself who was playing which part. I do not think I will try this author again.

[Kari Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book in general, as a light read. I did find it quite predictable unfortunately - I wish there had been a bit more of a challenge to the book

[Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was a real page turner and the main character was very likeable. However, it was far too easy to figure out who dunnit.

[Braunda Bodger]

Loved it.

[Denise Matheisen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I hoped

I love this author's Tom Tyler books so I was disappointed in this new series. Too many characters plus I pegged the bad guy right away.