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Erasing Memory

Erasing Memory

by Scott Thornley

Random House Of Canada | July 19, 2012 | Hardcover

Based on 4 ratings | Rate this | 2 reviews
A remarkable Canadian crime debut and the newest addition to our acclaimed World of Crime series.

MacNeice, a senior police detective in the southern Ontario industrial city of Dundurn, is returning from a pilgrimage to his wife''s grave when he''s called to a crime scene of singular and disturbing beauty. A young woman in evening dress lies gracefully posed on the floor of a pristine summer cottage so that the finger of one hand regularly interrupts the needle arm of a phonograph playing the Schubert Piano Trio. The only visible mark on her is the bruise under her chin, which MacNeice recognizes: it is the mark that distinguishes dedicated violinists, the same mark that once graced his wife. The murder is both ingenious and horrific, and soon entangles MacNeice and his team in Eastern Europe''s ancient grievances, which reach out to breach all the walls that have been thrown up to keep the past at bay.

MacNeice must use his splendid but unorthodox powers of observation to stem the tide of events threatening to erase any trace of memory or history, leaving the target of the crime naked in the face of loss.
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Reviews of Erasing Memory

2 reviews from our community
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  • 2 weeks ago
    kudos for an awesome first novel
    i loved this book! it may have been unfair for the media to compare a first-time novelist to the likes of dan brown, setting the bar at an absolute high, but this book was an awesome read, specially for a first novel — i didn’t put it down until i was done. if like me you enjoy a good murder mystery, give this new canadian writer a try! -- i loved the main character and his sophisticated tastes (how many detectives you know drink gappa?), and i loved the artistic way in which the crime scene was set. i think the cover design is perfectly suited for the tone of this crime. anyways, kudos to scott thornley for an awesome first novel!
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  • 2 years ago
    ENJOYED TIS FIRST TIME EFFORT
    This book would be number two on my “2011 Favorites So Far” list (but we are only two months into the year). “Mac” MacNeice is a homicide detective in Dundurn, Ontario (which bears a striking resemblance to Hamilton, Ontario where the author grew up). Driving home from visiting his wife’s grave he picks up a police call about a girl murdered in a remote cottage on the lake. Mac’s investigation leads us through an interesting suspect pool involving Eastern Europeans still reeling from the fall of Soviet Union. The story in itself was very good, but I especially liked the characters that Mr. Thornley has given us. Mac is a complex man with interests so far removed from his job that he cannot help but be a little unique. I liked the Southern Ontario setting, as it was fun to try and guess the locations in the book, and that definitely added to my personal enjoyment. Although the plots are not similar I enjoyed this book for much the same reasons as I enjoyed The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe. If you also enjoyed The Calling then this first time author is a must read.
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– More About This Product –

Erasing Memory

Erasing Memory

by Scott Thornley

Sold Out

From the Publisher

A remarkable Canadian crime debut and the newest addition to our acclaimed World of Crime series.

MacNeice, a senior police detective in the southern Ontario industrial city of Dundurn, is returning from a pilgrimage to his wife''s grave when he''s called to a crime scene of singular and disturbing beauty. A young woman in evening dress lies gracefully posed on the floor of a pristine summer cottage so that the finger of one hand regularly interrupts the needle arm of a phonograph playing the Schubert Piano Trio. The only visible mark on her is the bruise under her chin, which MacNeice recognizes: it is the mark that distinguishes dedicated violinists, the same mark that once graced his wife. The murder is both ingenious and horrific, and soon entangles MacNeice and his team in Eastern Europe''s ancient grievances, which reach out to breach all the walls that have been thrown up to keep the past at bay.

MacNeice must use his splendid but unorthodox powers of observation to stem the tide of events threatening to erase any trace of memory or history, leaving the target of the crime naked in the face of loss.

Format: Hardcover

Dimensions: 320 Pages, 5.91 × 9.06 × 0.79 in

Published: July 19, 2012

Publisher: Random House Of Canada

Language: English

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10: 0307359255

ISBN - 13: 9780307359254

Read from the Book

It was the same as it always was, chamber music driving up and jazz driving back. But this time he’d asked her, “Why do you want to be buried so far from town?” Kate had smiled and closed her eyes—for such a while that he thought she’d fallen asleep—then softly, but with some strength, as if to ensure that the point made it through the haze of morphine and fatigue, she said, “It’s beautiful there. It’s a lovely drive. Not too far. I know you’ll visit. And”—breathing deeply—“if it was in the city, I doubt you would. Anyway, it’ll get you out of your head for a few hours.” She was right. He’d been up once a month for the past thirty-eight months. When he’d looked at her ashes, he couldn’t see the difference between them and the ashes he retrieved from the fireplace to sprinkle on the garden—he couldn’t reassemble her. And yet, below the ground, beneath a headstone that bore only her initials, KGWM, he could imagine her on her side with her legs slightly tucked up—asleep.  And it did get him out of his head. A cemetery in the city could never do that—the sound of sirens, the headstones of people they’d known, the buzz of traffic nearby would distract from the solace of being near her. He stayed this time, as always, past sundown, reading, watching for birds and announcing each out loud for the odd comfort it gave him—cedar wax
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From the Critics

"For crime fiction junkies, Scott Thornley''s first novel, Erasing Memory, a beautifully written police procedural set in a fictional version of Hamilton, just whets our appetite for more. Our hero, senior homicide detective Mac MacNeice, a literate and complex man, who may remind the reader of Peter Robinson''s beloved Inspector Banks, runs an interesting team of investigators dealing with a truly weird murder. Please tell me this is the first of a series."
--Stevie Cameron, author of On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver''s Missing Women

"Beginning with a murder unlike any you''ve ever imagined--or would want to--Scott Thornley spins a gripping tale whose heroes and villains are equally and refreshingly human."
--Howard Shrier, author of High Chicago

About the Author

SCOTT THORNLEY has had a diverse career, from designing the Gemini Award for the Academy of Canadian Television to the logos for Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid. As president and creative director of Scott Thornley + Company (a strategic creative firm that defines, builds and maintains the brands of clients in Canada, the United States and Great Britain), Thornley has worked for twenty years with the pillars of the Canadian and international cultural and scientific communities in the field of applied storytelling. Having won over 150 international awards for design, he was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 1990. His interests also include drawing and photography--both of which he has exhibited.
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