"She scrambled to her feet, heart pounding. Suddenly all was silent. The tower stretched eerily skyward beside her in the night. She just wanted to get away."
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Pity of the Winds by Robin Timmerman Trafford Publishing
book review by Wendy Strain
A mystery stands at the heart of the demonstration wind turbine erected on the previous nesting grounds of red-tailed hawks on a Canadian lake. Despite the protests of the townspeople, the winds that blow over Middle Island are difficult to resist by wind companies looking for new locations to place their towers and a mayor intent on expanding his own fortune.
When Pete Jakes and his exotic wife Ali arrive in town, the problems have already started with mysterious night-time noises out on the point and a gruesome dummy promising danger to the mayor/project manager should construction continue. The town abounds with potential suspects— the irascible old farmer next door, the new yoga studio owner with a soon-to-be-ruined view of the lake, the retired teacher/environmentalist. When a young man ends up dead at the base of the tower, Jakes has difficulty believing it was a simple accident.
As tensions escalate, Jakes struggles to make sense of the loose ends that others find trivial, hoping they are not manifestations of his wartime nightmares. Meanwhile, many of the other residents of Middle Island must work through their own struggles. Steph must find a way to reconnect with her teenage daughter Livy. Livy struggles with conflicting emotions over her first love and Ali attempts to make a more permanent home for her and her gun-shy husband across the street from an unfriendly old woman who seems to hate her for simply being alive. Unraveling this puzzle is well worth the time invested.