The Lies Have It

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It’s election time in Toronto, and this year’s mayoral race is hotly contested.  However, private investigator Sasha Jackson is more focused on bondage than ballots.  After a wild night at a fetish party, a man Sasha had briefly met is found murdered near Cherry Beach, the whip marks on his back punctuated by two bullet holes.  It initially seems like naughty sex that went a bit too far, but Sasha soon discovers that politicos like to play rough too, and might be hiding more than just their handcuffs.

Meanwhile, Sasha has two other cases on the go.  A couple of distraught parents have hired her to find their runaway daughter Macy.  Sasha’s search for the girl leads her to some of Toronto’s shadier neighbourhoods where she learns more than she wants to about teenaged angst and Ecstasy.  Sasha soon discovers that Macy is a stoned cutter, and has been chillin’ with squatters and squeegee kids.

On top of the spank me, shank me cases, Sasha’s restaurateur brother has referred her services to a fine dining colleague who is convinced that someone in his restaurant is cooking the books instead of cooking five-star meals.   Sasha should have just asked ‘Where’s the beef?’ but instead she spends a rainy night looking for it. 

When Sasha dries off, she encounters an artistic dominatrix with passion for the environment, a political wife who never met a camera she didn't love, and a furry white cat that will inadvertently help to expose everything about Sasha’s latest case. 

"Author Jill Edmondson created a great character in Sasha Jackson. This makes me want to keep reading. Sasha keeps me in the pages. She’s honest, gutsy, liberal and independent. I can relate to her in so many ways." Amy Steele, Entertainment Realm

"Been to a fetish party lately? Even if you aren’t a habitué, you’ll like this stylish, smart novel set in Toronto’s downtown arts and culture scene.

This series, featuring aspiring musician-turned-private eye Sasha Jackson, has been optioned for television and it has all the hallmarks of success. There is a winsome PI, a sexy cop for a potential love interest and Hogtown as we would all love it to be: racy, witty and full of interesting, polymorphous perversity.

The mystery is a nicely plotted whodunit, but the real charm here is the setting. Edmondson, a communications professor, knows her town intimately. Even better, she knows how readers want it to be." Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

"In her 3^rd mystery Sasha Jackson is in fine form.  The book immediately grabbed my attention.  I really enjoy Sasha’s conversations. In her directness and wit I was reminded of the Spenser books.   Robert B. Parker created sharp interesting dialogue. Sasha remains a caustic observer of the world, an intriguing character, with a  quirky life." -Bill Selnes, Mysteries and More