In the frozen heart of the 1883 Canadian frontier, a single death unveils a darkness that could consume a town-and the men sworn to protect it.
Corporal Belvedere, a Mountie scarred by a brutal past, and Surgeon Virgil Montgomery, a newcomer haunted by his own doubts, are drawn into a murder investigation in the isolated settlement of Prince Albert. As winter's grip tightens, the killing exposes a web of secrets buried beneath the snow, threatening to unravel the fragile order of the North-West Territories.
In a community steeped in mistrust, Belvedere's unyielding quest for justice collides with Montgomery's struggle to uphold his oath to do no harm. Each clue they uncover draws them deeper into a maze of deception, where allies and enemies blur and every step risks a deadly reckoning. As the ice on the Saskatchewan River begins to crack, they must confront a truth that could cost them their lives-or their souls.
A gripping tale of vengeance and redemption, The Laundryman plunges you into a world where justice battles betrayal, and the truth lies buried in a frozen wilderness.
"A fast-paced, always arresting historical mystery, Dwayne Brenna's The Laundryman pits two Mounties as mismatched as Holmes and Watson against an array of murder suspects in pre-provincial Prince Albert during a numbingly cold winter, with a bit of love, a hint of sex, a lot of suspense-and even a dog."-Dave Margoshes, author of A Simple Carpenter
"Dwayne Brenna's The Laundryman is a hard one to put down, a classic murder mystery that is nothing like any whodunit I've ever read. His setting (late 19th century, Northern Saskatchewan), his characters (cops, good women, greedy bastards, Indigenous hunters, and hardscrabble farmers), and his plot are painstakingly woven together. If, like me, you begin to miss Brennna's authentic world, the only remedy is to read The Laundryman one more time."-David Carpenter, author of The Education of Angie Merasty
"In The Laundryman, a young surgeon, Virgil Montgomery, fleeing his own past, finds himself involved in stressful adventures with the North West Mounted Police, his life often complicated by his investigating partner, the morose and crusty Corporal Belvedere, who too often doses himself with laudanum because of an old war wound. In the fall of 1883, the two men are dispatched to Prince Albert to investigate a murder. Dwayne Brenna knows his characters well, their strengths and weaknesses, and creates a compelling narrative as they struggle to solve a series of crimes in the turbulent North West. This is a novel touched by the spirit of an engrossing era, and it's a pleasure to read."-Robert Currie, author of Living with the Hawk
