What do you think?
Rate this book
Sebastian Synard Mysteries #3
Three for Trinity
When Sebastian goes undercover in the theatre to find a killer, things get… dramatic.
In Three for Trinity, the third book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series, offbeat humour meets suspense as a nefarious crime unfolds.
Trying to run a tour business in COVID times is tough, especially when you’re home- schooling a teenager. But with the creation of the Atlantic bubble, Sebastian can offer a tour of the scenic, historic Bonavista peninsula to a small group. On the last night of the tour, an actor collapses at a socially distanced theatre performance. Sebastian rushes to help, but Lyle Mercer has been poisoned. When Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, he’s taking a risk in more ways than one. Will it upend his romantic relationship with police inspector Ailsa Bowmore?
In Three for Trinity, the third book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series, offbeat humour meets suspense as a nefarious crime unfolds.
Trying to run a tour business in COVID times is tough, especially when you’re home- schooling a teenager. But with the creation of the Atlantic bubble, Sebastian can offer a tour of the scenic, historic Bonavista peninsula to a small group. On the last night of the tour, an actor collapses at a socially distanced theatre performance. Sebastian rushes to help, but Lyle Mercer has been poisoned. When Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, he’s taking a risk in more ways than one. Will it upend his romantic relationship with police inspector Ailsa Bowmore?
222 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2021
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Major
30 books39 followersKevin Major is the author of 20 books, for both young people and adults. The first, Hold Fast, won several awards in Canada and was placed on the Hans Christian Andersen Honour List. It was released in 2014 as a feature film. His second book, Far From Shore, was the winner of the first Canadian Young Adult Book Award. Others which followed include Blood Red Ochre and Eating Between the Lines, winner of the CACL Book-of-the-Year Award.
In 1992 Kevin was given the Vicky Metcalf Award, for an outstanding body of work of significance to young people. The languages into which his work has been translated include French, Danish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
An adult novel, No Man’s Land, about the Newfoundland Regiment in World War I, was published in 1995 to much acclaim. Kevin’s adaption of the story was brought to the stage by Rising Tide Theatre and has played for more than a dozen years.
His more recent books include the Christmas classic The House of Wooden Santas, and a history of Newfoundland and Labrador: As Near To Heaven By Sea (a Canadian best-seller and finalist for the Pearson Non-Fiction Prize). Ann and Seamus, a verse novel released in 2003 was shortlisted for a total of ten awards. It has since been turned into an opera. The adult novel New Under the Sun was published in 2010, book one of a trilogy of historical fiction. The second, Found Far and Wide, was released in 2016, and the third, Land Beyond the Sea, in 2019.
In 2018 Kevin started a projected serious of crime novels with One for the Rock. He anticipates the second will arrive in bookstores in the fall of 2020.
Kevin has been named Memorial University’s Alumnus-of-the-Year, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Artist-of-the-Year .
John Moss, writing in “A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel,” has said, “Kevin Major is among the best Canadian writers of his generation. He has established himself as a figure of singular importance in our literature.”
He lives in St. John’s, NL with his wife Anne. They have two grown sons.
In 1992 Kevin was given the Vicky Metcalf Award, for an outstanding body of work of significance to young people. The languages into which his work has been translated include French, Danish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
An adult novel, No Man’s Land, about the Newfoundland Regiment in World War I, was published in 1995 to much acclaim. Kevin’s adaption of the story was brought to the stage by Rising Tide Theatre and has played for more than a dozen years.
His more recent books include the Christmas classic The House of Wooden Santas, and a history of Newfoundland and Labrador: As Near To Heaven By Sea (a Canadian best-seller and finalist for the Pearson Non-Fiction Prize). Ann and Seamus, a verse novel released in 2003 was shortlisted for a total of ten awards. It has since been turned into an opera. The adult novel New Under the Sun was published in 2010, book one of a trilogy of historical fiction. The second, Found Far and Wide, was released in 2016, and the third, Land Beyond the Sea, in 2019.
In 2018 Kevin started a projected serious of crime novels with One for the Rock. He anticipates the second will arrive in bookstores in the fall of 2020.
Kevin has been named Memorial University’s Alumnus-of-the-Year, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Artist-of-the-Year .
John Moss, writing in “A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel,” has said, “Kevin Major is among the best Canadian writers of his generation. He has established himself as a figure of singular importance in our literature.”
He lives in St. John’s, NL with his wife Anne. They have two grown sons.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 12, 2021
My fuller review of this book is in the December edition of the Northeast Avalon Times and will make its way here eventually. This third in the series is my favourite so far, and not just because local legend Donna Butt is a character.
May 26, 2022
This series grew on me, loved the Newfoundland setting and enjoyed the father/son relationship and their cooking together. Their attempt at Sex-in-the-pan brought back memories of my Aunt making it for many family dinners.
November 29, 2021
Three for Trinity, the third installment in Kevin Major’s Sebastian Synard Mystery series, finds our intrepid hero operating his boutique Newfoundland tour business in the days of Covid-19. After months of enforced inactivity, the establishment of the Atlantic Bubble means he can offer tours for small local groups, and it turns out there is sufficient interest within the Atlantic region to justify going ahead. He decides to focus the tour on the scenic and historic Bonivista Peninsula and takes the group north, out of St. John’s, to the village of Trinity. Sebastian is serious about his responsibilities as guide. He’s not seeking distractions. But despite some doubts, he finds himself striking up a tentative romance with tour group member Ailsa Bowmore, a recently divorced inspector with the RCMP. As part of the tour of Trinity, the group attend a play at Rising Tide Theatre. But during the performance, one of the actors, a young man named Lyle Mercer, collapses on stage. Ailsa, assuming a first-responder’s role, and Sebastian attend to the stricken actor and see him rushed off to the hospital. But by next morning Mercer is dead. Speculation leans toward a drug overdose, but the toxicology analysis finds traces of poison. This is murder.
From this intriguing setup Major’s novel takes off. Acting on his own, Sebastian, a registered private investigator, goes undercover within Rising Tide to see what he can find out about Lyle and his relationships with the other actors. Ailsa leads the official investigation. Sebastian’s inquiry takes him beyond the theatre, into the community, where he meets local folks with whom Lyle came into contact, and ultimately deep into the past, where secrets and lies abound. Inevitably, he finds himself butting heads with the RCMP, and Ailsa in particular, who seems stubbornly disinclined to pursue the leads that Sebastian’s uncovered, and whose distant manner and overly decorous conduct leave Sebastian wondering if their evening of intimate disclosures actually happened.
Kevin Major keeps the reader guessing in this propulsive narrative that features abundant twists and turns along with plenty of quirky humour and briny Newfoundland atmosphere. Once again Sebastian’s family life comes into play: his delicate balancing act with ex-wife Samantha, the worry and second-guessing that go along with helping to raise their smart, curious teenage son Nick. Three novels in, Sebastian Synard (“rhymes with innard”) remains an attractive protagonist, a shrewdly observant and empathetic pragmatist whose voice is peppered with snarky asides and cheeky observations on family, love, scotch, and the challenge of making ends meet in Newfoundland at any time but especially during a pandemic. Readers on the hunt for an engaging, fast-paced entertainment will not be disappointed.
From this intriguing setup Major’s novel takes off. Acting on his own, Sebastian, a registered private investigator, goes undercover within Rising Tide to see what he can find out about Lyle and his relationships with the other actors. Ailsa leads the official investigation. Sebastian’s inquiry takes him beyond the theatre, into the community, where he meets local folks with whom Lyle came into contact, and ultimately deep into the past, where secrets and lies abound. Inevitably, he finds himself butting heads with the RCMP, and Ailsa in particular, who seems stubbornly disinclined to pursue the leads that Sebastian’s uncovered, and whose distant manner and overly decorous conduct leave Sebastian wondering if their evening of intimate disclosures actually happened.
Kevin Major keeps the reader guessing in this propulsive narrative that features abundant twists and turns along with plenty of quirky humour and briny Newfoundland atmosphere. Once again Sebastian’s family life comes into play: his delicate balancing act with ex-wife Samantha, the worry and second-guessing that go along with helping to raise their smart, curious teenage son Nick. Three novels in, Sebastian Synard (“rhymes with innard”) remains an attractive protagonist, a shrewdly observant and empathetic pragmatist whose voice is peppered with snarky asides and cheeky observations on family, love, scotch, and the challenge of making ends meet in Newfoundland at any time but especially during a pandemic. Readers on the hunt for an engaging, fast-paced entertainment will not be disappointed.
July 29, 2025
Review for the entire series: I kept seeing these in gift shops in St. John's, NFL, on our trip, so I finally decided to just buy them all and see what they were like. Now that I've read them all, I have to say, these are a great way to introduce someone to Newfoundland's iconic tourist and historical sites through fiction. I really wish all the places I visited had this kind of fun mystery series to help you "visit" a place. We had already visited most of the places in the first book and some in the fifth book, so it was fun to revisit them through these stories. My only problem was the language. It wasn't on every page, but there was enough that it was a turn-off for me, and I can't recommend them to everyone the way I would otherwise. In book 1, for instance, chapter 1 has a lot of language, but when I got to chapter 2 and beyond, the offensive word was gone and only made one or two more appearances toward the end of the book. The next few books had less than that. Book 5 had almost none, so perhaps the author learned that he didn't need it for a good story. There were some other things I didn't like (modern books always seem to have allusions to things I'd rather they didn't), but it wasn't bad enough to put me off reading them.
Three for Trinity (The Sebastian Synard Mystery Series Book 3) by Kevin Major (2025 Book 113)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 7/26
We drove out to Bonavista when we were in NFL, so we were near the Trinity area. It was fun to see some things we missed, and to visit the Bonavista area again.
Three for Trinity (The Sebastian Synard Mystery Series Book 3) by Kevin Major (2025 Book 113)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 7/26
We drove out to Bonavista when we were in NFL, so we were near the Trinity area. It was fun to see some things we missed, and to visit the Bonavista area again.
February 15, 2023
It is hard to be working in the tourism industry during COVID; however, when the Atlantic bubble is created, Sebastian Synard, private detective and tour leader, is at least able to run one tour of the scenic Bonavista peninsula to a small group of scotch whisky lovers. On the last night of the tour, an actor, Lyle Mercer, is poisoned and collapses during a theatre performance. Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, helped by his teenage son, his dog and his, hopefully, new girlfriend police inspector Ailsa Bowmore. Third book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series. This book has an intriguing plot, charming characters and delightful humour that brings with it the smell sea, fog, cod and juniper. For anyone who likes gentle mysteries and loves Newfoundland.
March 6, 2022
The third installment of the Sebastian Synard Mystery Series, which take place in Newfoundland. This adventure takes place in Trinity, where a death on the stage of the Rising Tide Theatre Company occurred while Synard was watching the show with his tour group. Having had the pleasure of visiting the area and attending a show at this theatre, even more pleasure came from reading this book. My favourite of the series so far.
September 19, 2022
Browsed the NL fiction category at Corner brook Library on Saturday looking for something new and something by local writers. I happily stumbled onto this gem which I proceeded to whiz through in two days and happily also found out this was book 3 in the series so now I can’t wait to read books 1 and 2 .
January 17, 2022
Enjoying this series by Kevin Major so much ….this was the third one and again a pleasure to read. My favourite so far!
January 20, 2022
I loved this book so much. I love that actual living people were characters in the book and all the place descriptions, I felt I was actually there.
Well done Kevin Major
Well done Kevin Major
September 2, 2022
Good, like the detective and his son. Great local content. Really an3 1/2.
September 2, 2024
Really enjoyed this well written book. Very entertaining, especially can relate to it as have visited Trinity numerous times.
Read
April 30, 2022Loves it.
Throughly enjoyed very word. Reading this is like going hone for me. Can't wait for the next book in this series.
Throughly enjoyed very word. Reading this is like going hone for me. Can't wait for the next book in this series.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews