Groundtruthing by Paul Grant

https://books2read.com/Notorious-Moose-Jaw “Great storyline, and if you are from Moose Jaw (or wish you were) the story jumps out at you as you recognize the buildings, streets and even people.” Ron Rollie, after reading Notorious Groundtruthing – using information based on real-life obervations – gives stories a verisimilitude that resonates with readers. Saskatchewan is a drama queen when it comes to climate, which is why climate plays a major role in both of my novels. We go from minus 40C in the winter to plus 40C in the summer, the wind is almost always blowing, and we get more than 600,000 lightning strikes a year, plus hail, rain and snow in any given month, even August. On the plus side, the lightning puts on a helluva show, the wind scours the clouds from the bright blue sky, and the extreme temperatures ensure that the province is sparsely populated – just two people per square kilometre, compared to 5.4 in B.C., 15.9 in Ontario and 28,000+ in New York State. And as Ron Rollie says, it makes a great backdrop for a story. Notorious (BWL 2025) is set in present-day Moose Jaw. During the Covid lockdowns there was a massive spike in the use of, and addiction to, methamphetamine. Post-pandemic, the problem persists, along with the money laundering and murder that come with the drug trade. While the cops try to catch the killers, journalist Eleanor Bell follows the money to discover who is behind the meth operation, and how they’re linked to an almost forgotten Balkan war. Astraphobia (BWL 2025) is part of BWL’s Paranormal Canadiana series and set during the formative years of Saskatchewan as a province. It follows three generations of Moose Jaw farmers who are stalked by lightning, which is absolutely capricious, killing some and sparing others without regard to whether they are saints, sinners or somewhere in between. Can the family ever escape the McKenzie Curse?