Lunenburg

by Keith Baker

Annie Welles is an officer with the Halifax Regional Police’s Robbery and Violent Crimes Unit. Recently divorced without custody of her two young sons, Annie’s career is now stalling under the ambitions of her ruthless colleagues.

John Taggart is a Scottish journalist looking to land the scoop that will secure his future. In Halifax to cover the Royal visit, John finally has a chance to understand his mother’s connection to the province, which she has always kept hidden.

When two murders occur within 48 hours, they are both led to the small, picturesque town of Lunenburg and a 30-year-old murder case with a long-buried secret. The town’s dark past may hold the answers they both need, but digging it up could mean more danger than it’s worth.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Canada, Fiction

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Keith Baker


Keith Baker is the author of four thrillers published by Headline in the UK with numerous translation editions around the world.

Former Head of News and Current Affairs and Chief Editorial Adviser BBC Northern Ireland, Keith is a writer and editorial consultant and acts as executive producer for independent television productions.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny there are no reviews on this book. I really, really liked it. Annie Welles is a compelling protaganist and the story line is engaging and moves along nicely. I liked learning something about Nova Scotia, and I enjoyed the way the Scottish columnist, John Taggert, was brought into the story. Even if it was a huge "coincidence" that he found himself in the same town his unknown father now lives. Still enjoyed it.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book. I liked it a lot. It was a well written book. I liked the variety of characters in it. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a police procedural, a novel with a straight forward detective story set in Nova Scotia, one of Canada’s Atlantic Provinces. It begins in 1970 as a young boy hidden in a tree on Heckman’s Island uses his binoculars to watch a beautiful naked woman make love to one of her two lovers. He has watched her before and knows two different men visit, one much younger than the other. When one of the two men comes upon the other two in the woman’s bedroom, he stabs the woman multiple times. The boy witnesses the murder but keeps the secret to himself, unwilling to let anyone know he has been a “peeping tom”.

The scene shifts to Bedford many years later when readers are introduced to Annie Wells, a thirty-four year old policewoman working in the Robbery and Violent Crimes Division for the Halifax Regional Police. Annie was recently divorced from her husband Terry who has since remarried. He has custody of the couple’s ten year old twin boys Peter and James, a fight Annie lost when the judge decided her irregular and often long work hours were not the best environment for two growing boys.

Gil Claussen is a good cop and Annie’s former partner. Shortly after her breakup with Terry, Claussen made a drunken but very explicit pass at her. The incident bothered her, after all Gil had a wife and three daughters. She could have reported him for sexual harassment but chose not to, sticking to the unspoken rule that you didn’t rat out a fellow cop. The two never spoke of the incident, but Gil began to close Annie out and he became difficult to work with. Mark Gamble in charge of their unit, split the two up for “operational reasons”, although neither Claussen nor anyone else believed this was a coincidence. Rumours had been circulating for some time about an incident between them. Gamble assigned Bill Crisp to partner with Claussen and assigned Walter Flagg, a fiftyish cop soon headed for retirement to be paired with Annie.

The setting shifts once again to London where readers meet John Taggart, a Scot working for the Sunday Chronicle whose specialty is stories about the Royal Family. The newspaper has reported sagging sales lately and there have been questions about Ken Shaw’s editorial leadership. Taggart is wondering how much longer he should stick around given the paper’s declining readership. After a reception at an awards dinner he runs into Judith Sefton news editor at The Post. Sefton has a reputation as a seductive femme fatale, a woman with a number of discarded conquests in her past. She seduces Taggart who fully cooperates, feeling he badly needs this little fling, a decision he soon regrets.

John Taggart never knew his father and his mother emigrated from Nova Scotia before he was born. His mother told him his father had been sick and died long ago and made it clear she did not want to talk about him. Taggart always felt he was his mother’s guilty secret, that he was an unworthy and unwanted child and had been a burden in her life. She is currently confined to a mental hospital after his last visit when she attacked and tried to kill him.

Taggart is on his way to Nova Scotia to cover a visit by Prince William who will be celebrating the inauguration of the Bluenose, an historic sailing ship that has been undergoing repair work in a shipyard in Lunenburg, work funded by a generous philanthropist. As John prepares to leave he has avoided many calls from Sefton who is anxious to resume their affair. He is not interested in her and saw the entire episode as a hasty one night stand. Judith however is persistent and has never taken rejection well.

The scene shifts back once again to Halifax where a man named Cobb Landry has secretly been watching a man jogging in Point Pleasant Park and where private detective and former cop George Poyner is checking out a car license plate number for a client who wants to know more about the man who owns it.

Meanwhile the Halifax Regional Police have established a joint task force with the RCMP to handle a secret operation against a terrorist suspect living in a huge stone mansion on the Lunenburg waterfront. The man targeted is believed to have provided the poison gas that was fired into a United States compound in Karachi, killing thirty-eight people. When the RCMP working with the FBI and the U.S. State Department storm the house, they find the man they were looking for but he has a well-known figure as company, a fact that will create political waves in Canada and London.

The subsequent arrest causes a number of interest groups to flock to the city, ready to get involved and find a situation they can adapt to their own needs. Police are expecting many of these trouble makers and hard line activists to cause maximum mayhem and must prepare for it. This simmering explosive situation has the potential for a great story so Ken Shaw tells Taggart to divert his travel plans to Halifax.

John Taggart and Annie Welles meet through a common friend and the two start a relationship which portends trouble as Annie is accused of releasing confidential information. Meanwhile back in London Judith Sefton is appointed as the new assistant editor at Taggart’s newspaper and he knows his days are numbered. Sefton phones him at 4 AM one morning to confirm his suspicions, telling him his days are numbered.

Then the bodies of two men are discovered in Halifax and the suspected killer is a man recently released from prison. As the investigation opens, the two murders are believed to be related and suddenly Annie and John are caught up in the double murder and a long buried secret, hidden for years in Lunenburg’s history.

It is nice to see a crime story with a setting in Canada and also away from the huge cities of Toronto and Vancouver. Baker includes several details to remind readers of the location, naming geographical landmarks like Chester, Bedford, Dartmouth and Point Pleasant Park and including references to Moosehead beer, The China House Restaurant, the Dartmouth ferry and the Lunenburg Memorial to Those Lost at Sea. It makes the setting an important part of the story.

The novel was published in 2000 so there is little of the technology that plays such a large part in more up to date police procedurals. This is more about the good solid police work that solves crimes and proves to be a nice change.

There is a large cast of characters in this novel and some may find it a challenge to keep them all straight. A handy pen and pencil serve as a handy crutch!

Some may find coincidence plays a heavy hand in this story and I agree, but it was not enough to ruin my reading enjoyment. Others have complained about its length, but it was well paced and never dragged. The closing pages certainly ramped up the tension and that part of the narrative was very well written.

This proved to be a good entertaining read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite bookseller in Stratford, Ontario suggested this title to me a couple of years ago and it's been sitting waiting since then. I bought it because of the title. A trip to Nova Scotia included an overnight in Lunenburg, a charming and colorful small village on the coast.

Keith Baker doesn't disappoint. His descriptions of Halifax, Lunenburg and the surrounding areas are evocative. But it's the thirty year old mystery that keeps you turning pages into the wee hours of the morning. Three other titles are listed for the author: "Inheritance", "Reckoning", and "Engram". Good luck finding them in your local library or even on Amazon, which is a shame because the author is well known in Great Britain.

From the cover "Annie Welles is an officer with the Robbery and Violent Crimes Unite of the Halifax Regional Police - a high-pressure job which has cost her her marriage." Well drawn characters, intrigue, and a satisfactory conclusion make this a highly recommended thriller.

[Crystal Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved that it was based in the Maritimes. It did drag on in spots but overall kept my attention.

[D.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Baker's Lunenburg takes place very close to my home in Nova Scotia so even before the opening page he had me hooked. It tells the story of Annie Welles, a police officer on a murder case that stretches back to the 1970s. Baker's descriptions are so vivid and his prose very good that it draws you in. The mystery is intriguing but I found it a bit confusing through the middle, with multiple characters coming and going through the middle, where it dragged slightly. That said, it picks up against in the last third and the ending is great. Recommended!

[Brian Leclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book while on vacation in Nova Scotia; we had just come from Lunenburg and I found the book at a bed in breakfast just in Windsor, N.S. I eventually tracked the book down here and I thought it'd be interesting to read a book set in a place where I had visited.
What I ended up with was an engrossing mystery story with an interesting journalism-based subplot, describing some of the sights that I remembered from my trip.

It's well worth the read -- even if you haven't been to Nova Scotia...I wouldn't be surprised if it inspires you to go there.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book opens with a 12-year-old boy witnessing a murder outside the small community of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

Thirty years later Annie Wells is a police officer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is divorced and had lost custody of her two sons to her ex-husband (who has since remarried) because of her demanding job. Two unrelated murders happen one night, which is two too many. The Bluenose III has been built and is set to sail in Lunenburg with Prince William doing the honours. But a suspected terrorist has been found to be nearby so this may cancel the prince's visit.

John Taggart is a UK journalist who has been sent to Nova Scotia to cover the royal visit. His mother and her parents had lived in Nova Scotia before he was born so this gives him a chance to perhaps learn some of the secrets in her past.

Annie and John are introduced by a mutual friend. As Annie investigates the murders, she learns that John may be involved so she helps him find out more about his family as she discovers more about the murders.

I liked this book. I thought the story was interesting. I liked the writing style ... it's written in third person perspective usually from Annie and/or John's point of view. I found there were a lot of characters in the police forces and I couldn't keep track of them. As a head's up, there is swearing, violence and adult activity.

The author is from the UK and this book was originally published there in 2000 ... this soon becomes apparent in the writing though the book was republished in Canada 15 years later. There are two voices ... Annie's in Canada and John's in the UK and then Canada. Annie uses terms, though, that a Brit would use ... like "mobile" instead of "cell phone" and "surgery" instead of "doctor's office". The author did a good job in staying fairly true to describing the locations in Nova Scotia so it would have been nice if he made the extra effort to use Canadian terms when the story was taking place here.

One thing jumped out at me right away in the prologue, which is set in 1970. The young boy was wearing a Toronto Blue Jays ball cap ... but the Blue Jays weren't around until 1977. I give the author props for including local things but he should have done a bit of homework.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2018/11...

[William Macrae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting crime novel about a British (Scottish) journalist visiting Nova Scotia on assignment while the police there are dealing with two murders, and a political crisis. The descriptions of the landscape around Halifax brings back my own visits while working there about the time of the novel. One might complain about the numerous British idioms used, except that the reader has to realise that the narrator is British, so why would he not use British expressions? One expression baffled me. Annie, the female police officer, referred to the RCMP as Girks??? If this is real, I must have missed it in the forty years I have been here.

[Jan McClelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read and having been to Halifax, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, etc. added to the read for me. However, there was one glitch in the story that totally interrupted the story flow for me and that was the use of British terms in a story not only set in Canada but filled with Canadian characters, bar one or two. So calling a stove a cooker, the hood of a car a bonnet, and walkers "Zimmer frames" just didn't sit well. A Canadian pre-reader or editor would/should have caught these and other errors in terminology. And that would have made a good read even better.

[Mae Leveson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes of this book and it got off to a strong start. Being familiar with some of the locations brought the descriptions of time and place alive. I could certainly relate to winter in Canada and all that it entails, particularly those biting winds in the Maritimes. The ending felt rushed and I was disappointed with the ending.

[Karleigh Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first hundred pages or so were so slow and I almost put the book down for good. However I’ve always finished a book and continued on. I’m glad I did as it turned out the slow back stories set the scene for some major plot twists! Great book and the details about the south shore didn’t disappoint

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging and captivating read. Loved the familiar settings. Quite a lot to keep track of - I was a little lost at times. Unfortunate that the Canadian editor/publisher did not insist on changing the UK vocabulary, because it definitely detracted from the authenticity of the story.

[Rita Bouchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

good mystery, interesting characters, enjoyed the Canadian setting Always nice to read about a place you have been.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the crimes. 4+ Since I was visiting Lunenburg and the the area while I read it, it was even more fun.

[Patricia Gulley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of stuff going on, several mysteries, job issues, personal life and a few thing that had nothing to do with the story. Lot of movement with descriptions of moving along streets and landscapes.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. Totally solid.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Linda Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant read set in Halifax - Lunenburg area. Lots of familiar locations.

[Amanda Kotlar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the beginning was a little slow going, but it was a good story with twists and turns.

[Bernhard Warr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Jim Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lunenburg (2015, Vagrant Press) is a Canadian reprint of a UK novel previously released in 2000. It is a detective/mystery novel which originally begins in 1970 outside Lunenburg, but ends in Halifax in the year 2000. Keith Baker is a UK novelist and has written three other thrillers published by Headline in the UK. I recently reviewed another thriller (I am not keen on that term, but that's what the publishers prefer to call them), What Kills Good Men by David Hood. It was a novel set in 1899 Halifax and concerned a police Inspector trying to solve a murder. Lunenburg is similar in that it involves a policewoman trying to solve two recent murders, both connected (as it turns out) to the 1970 murder. But no more spoilers now!

Synopsis

The main protagonist of the story is Annie Welles, an officer with the Halifax Regional Police's Robbery and Violent Crimes Unit. Annie is a single mother of two boys, the custody of which she lost in the divorce agreement. She loves Halifax and would not want to live anywhere else. She is not exactly 'tough' but she is resolute enough in her professional career and will often follow her hunches. Against the backdrop of these two murders is the planned Royal visit of Prince William to Lunenburg to launch the new Bluenose III (a totally fictitious ship and event). John Taggart, a UK journalist assigned to cover the event, but then the murders occur, and he is asked look into them and their possible impact on the Royal visit. Taggart's problems follow him across the ocean, as the paper he is working for is soon taken over, and his contract is then terminated whilst he is in Canada. He also has an ancestral connection to Nova Scotia, and soon finds himself in a foreign country without a job and embroiled in the investigation.
You can read the rest of the review at my site: www.MiramichiReader.ca

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Baker's novel "Lunenburg" is a fast paced murder mystery featuring a strong female lead. Annie Welles is a Halifax police officer, recently divorced and without custody of her children. The hard work and long hours she dedicates to her job caused the upheaval in her family life, but it is just these qualities that make her a remarkable cop. In a man's world, where her partner propositions her at a party and she has to fight for every advancement, Welles rises above the rest in her demeanor and by using her wits. When she meets a handsome British reporter, Annie is reminded that she is also a woman and finds herself falling in love.
Through the course of the novel, Taggart the reporter learns his mysterious father is a convicted murderer who has been just released to the streets of Halifax, followed by a quick succession of brutal murders that leave the RCMP and the Halifax police stumped. To add a little spice to the mix, these murders are all tied in with a murder in Toronto a dozen years previously, and the murder of a young woman in Lunenburg three decades ago.
You'll never guess "whodunnit" in this page turner!

[Joy Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you live in Lunenburg, as I do, there is enough detail that you recognize where things are and enough poetic license to make it interesting. What I could not get over, was the use of the British lingo for clearly Canadian things. One that really stood out was calling a doctor's office his surgery, no one in Canada does that, unless they are from Britain. There were other small things that make you realize that it is not a Canadian writer but overall it is a very readable book.

The story line is good and keeps one turning the pages. There are a few story lines running at the same time and at the beginning of the book as Mr. Baker introduces all the characters, I just wanted him to get on with it. The background just wasn't that interesting and could have been introduced throughout the plot rather than in big bites at the start. Once all the characters were brought together the story flowed much more naturally. Of course, it may have been that I had gotten used to the style of writing by then.

[Deane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this mystery set in Nova Scotia especially in the Halifax-Lunenburg area. There were so many twists and turns and I didn't know until the last few pages who the murderer was and was surprised by the answer.
It was easy to see that Keith Baker certainly isn't a Maritimer because we don't wear jumpers, the stove is not called a cooker, the doctor's office is not a surgery which are minor details...but he did a great job of describing the area. Since I lived in Halifax for awhile, I did enjoy reading his take on the city.

I particularly liked the Halifax policewoman, Annie Wells but found her journalist friend, John Taggart a weaker personality; not a hero type to match her style. :-) Could certainly understand why her near-obsession with her job as a detective would lead to a marriage breakup.

When I recommend this book to someone, I will suggest they jot down some of the names and their positions or jobs because it does get bogged down with a great many characters.

I will certainly look for more of Keith Baker's novels.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I work for the Canadian publisher that just bought the North American rights to this book, and read it while editing the manuscript for its re-release this spring.

The first third of this book is tedious and slow: Baker introduces a myriad of characters which are all very similar and hard to keep straight. The writing is uninspired, and not a whole lot happens.

The final two-thirds are much more exciting, but I couldn't get past the style. It's stilted and unimaginative, but I suppose that's to be expected from detective fiction. You don't usually read these books for their gorgeous turns of phrase and metaphors.

Still, take a look at this excerpt: "The house had big windows overlooking a grassy half-acre that led to a rocky shore where choppy waters broke under a steely sky heavy with sea mist." When he's trying to be lyrical and descriptive, Baker comes off cliché and convoluted.

The story itself is interesting, and I honestly didn't see the final twist coming, but all in all I found it rather cheesy.

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lunenberg is a police procedural set in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that follows the exploits of Detective Annie Welles as she tries to solve two murders that seem to have their roots in an another murder thirty years previously. Welles is an interesting character, playing the role of the downtrodden but feisty female cop who pursues her own investigations in the face of sexist sidelining. She’s joined by a number of nicely penned characters and Baker provides a reasonable sense of place for Halifax and Lunenberg. Where the book struggles, however, is with respect to the plot, which has both holes in it (such as why the witness held his silence for thirty years) and is driven forward by an endless succession of plot devices, especially contrived presences and absences and an abundance of coincidences. The result is a tale that simply doesn’t ring true and denouement that felt contrived and weak. Overall then, while the characters had potential, in my view the plot let the story down.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book ~ 4.5 stars! It is always fun to read a novel that has a local setting. Being familiar with the towns, apartment complex and even the grungy motel on the Bedford highway added to the book. However I even know Heckman's Island (family lives there)!!

Putting the setting aside, the book was excellent! There were many individual crimes that eventually melded together in a big twist at he end. A great read :)

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cracking good story set in my home province of Nova Scotia. Baker obviously spent time in the areas of Halifax and Lunenburg where the story takes place. His research didn't seem to extend to how the locals talked. He used many British words that we never say in NS. Never mind, I still give it 4 stars for surprising me with whodunit.

[Darlene Otet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Great book - enjoyed it immensely! Had me hooked from the very beginning and kept me in suspense till the very end! Enjoyed the progress of the investigation and did not suspect the missing link at all! Loved it and will definitely read more of Keith Baker's books.