Arthur Ellis Award finalist: A Toronto cop investigates the death of a politician's stepdaughter in a novel "as crisp and snappy as a Canadian winter" (Kirkus Reviews).

In the midst of a record-setting spell of frigid weather, the stepdaughter of a government official is found dead on a snow-swept harbor pier, and overworked and underpaid Detective Barry Gilbert is called to investigate. The Metropolitan Toronto Police Force is beset by threats of staff cuts, so their work is challenging enough. But this case involves some additional enigmas—like the question of why the victim's pet parrot was also killed, or why the autopsy indicates that she froze to death before she was shot.

So begins a treacherous trail of evidence that leads Gilbert to the coldest zones of the human heart, in this "excellent procedural" (Library Journal).