Nearly a year has passed since the death of his wife, Catherine. John Cardinal is still trying to find his way back to life. This currently involves a small apartment where he has temporarily settled in quite comfortably, the routine work on cold case files, and movie nights with his favorite colleague, Lise Delorme, which are meant to take his mind off things. Meanwhile, Algonquin Bay, in keeping with Cardinal's state of mind, is shrouded in snow and silence. Then two decapitated bodies are discovered in a remote summer house on Trout Lake. The detective quickly realizes that this case will be anything but routine: The woman and the man had traveled from Russia for a fur auction held annually in Algonquin Bay. The prestigious event usually attracts buyers from all over the world, who distribute the furs from Manhattan to Moscow to China. Suddenly, Cardinal is thrust into the fray and finds himself caught in a web of intrigue and secrets. Biography (Giles Blunt) Giles Blunt, born in 1952, grew up in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, and studied English literature at the University of Toronto. In 1980, he moved to New York, where he supported himself as a street worker, bailiff, and bartender, among other jobs. Today, he lives in Toronto again, working as a freelance writer and screenwriter. New product