Speak for the Dead - (Dominion Archives Mysteries) by Amy Tector (Paperback)

About the Book

"It's a steamy summer Ottawa day when Cate is called out to the nitrate facility to investigate an apparent suicide. The eerie building is filled with deteriorating nitrate film that could literally spontaneously combust. When Cate's life is threatened by a stray spark, she suspects that the suicide might be murder. Despite pressure from the police to pronounce on cause quickly, Cate is bloody-minded enough to keep investigating. Whether she's looking for answers because of her dedication to justice, or as a distraction from the grief she feels over her brother's recent death, her inquiries plunge her into a world of military secrets, contentious Indigenous protests and a seventy-year-old mystery with deadly implications"--

Book Synopsis

More than ten years after The Foulest Things, murder and mayhem return to Ottawa in the highly-anticipated next installment of Amy Tector's acclaimed Dominion Archives Mystery series.

It's a stormy summer day when Ottawa coroner Dr. Cate Spencer is called to the scene of an alleged suicide. Inside a narrow vault in the Dominion Archives' nitrate film storage facility--kept separate from the rest of the collection due to its dangerous combustibility--officers pressure Cate to rule the death a suicide. When parts of the scene don't add up and a deliberately set spark threatens her life, Cate suspects that this death might be a murder.

Cate's tough façade masks a deep compassion for the victims she examines. Whether she's looking for answers because of her dedication to justice or to distract herself from anguish over her brother's recent death, her inquiries plunge her into a world of military secrets, contentious Indigenous protests, and a seventy-year-old mystery with deadly implications. Will Cate manage to pull herself away from her scotch and grief to expose an explosive historic secret and solve a murder the police doubt even exists?

Review Quotes

"Richly drawn characters, delicious twist and turns, and a propulsive plot that will keep you turning pages . . . Speak for the Dead is the must-read second installment in Tector's engaging Dominion Archives Mystery series." --Bianca Marais, author of Hum If You Don't Know the Words

"[A] strong sequel to 2022's The Foulest Things . . . Tector smoothly balances her lead's struggles with alcohol in the wake of her brother's death with developments in this well-crafted mystery. Temperance Brennan fans will be pleased." --Publishers Weekly

"Speak for the Dead offers a rich, textured setting dotted with instantly familiar characters, carefully unspooling a tightly-wound mystery. I love being in the hands of a confident writer, and Amy Tector knows exactly where this story is going and how to get there, teasing out details and wrinkles with precision timing. Our protagonist is as flawed as they come, yet so persistent in her pursuit of the truth we end up rooting for her to solve the case in spite of her pain, or perhaps because of it." --Jeremy Scott, author of When the Corn is Waist High and creator of CinemaSins

"With its intricately layered plot and fiercely dogged protagonist, Speak for the Dead is the perfect book to curl up with on a long winter's night. Louise Penny fans will devour Amy Tector's creepy and intricately-crafted new novel." --Katie Tallo, award-winning screenwriter and bestselling author of Dark August

"Military secrets, explosive artifacts, and hard liquor make the perfect combination in this captivating mystery." --Carolyne Topdijan, author of The Hitman's Daughter

"Told with Tector's superb eye for detail and her rare ability to convey humor, Speak for the Dead is a perfect read for fans of Kathy Reichs's protagonist Temperance Brennan--and for everyone else!" --Daco Auffenorde, award-winning author of Cover Your Tracks

"Amy Tector's Speak for the Dead is a complex, intricate whodunit with rich characters that never lets up. Cate Spencer, the maverick coroner with a hypnotic prickly, self-destructive bent, will both exasperate and charm you with her vulnerability and sharp edges. These are tempered by her humanity and an unrelenting pursuit of truth and justice for the dead. Thankfully, we can look forward to more in this series." --Wayne Ng, award-winning author of Letters from Johnny