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Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy > Widows and Orphans

A Canadian Author Canadian Read

Widows and Orphans: A Quill & Packet Mystery

By Kate Hilton, Elizabeth Renzetti


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Publish Date

May 01, 2025

Category

Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / Holidays & Vacation

Price

$22.99

In Port Ellis, there's no off-season for murder.

Journalist Cat Conway is looking forward to an easy assignment covering a major wellness and self-actualization summit at the Pinerock Resort, featuring Bliss Bondar and Bree Guthrie, creators of the Welcome, Goddess empire and widows with attitude. Cat's mother, Marian Conway, bestselling author and defiantly mediocre parent, is on the agenda-and so is murder.

When one of the influencers turns up dead, suspicion falls on the high-profile guests. Could the killer be a jealous business partner? Or the Instagram-famous poet? The empowerment guru whose wife hates him? Or Cat's mother, who has a reputation to protect and a shocking secret to hide?

Cat's pulled into investigating another celebrity death, but this time while facing the possible demise of her livelihood: The Quill & Packet is struggling financially, and may be headed toward its final edition. A convoy of protesters, angry at Cat's reporting, has besieged the Quill's newsroom. Can Cat rescue her mother and her newspaper, or will the killer stalking Port Ellis beat her to the deadline?

KATE HILTON is a bestselling Canadian writer. She is the co-author of the Quill & Packet mystery series; the most recent title,Widows and Orphans, was published in 2025. Her fiction includes the forthcomingCity of the Muse(2026), as well asThe Hole in the Middle,Just Like Family, andBetter Luck Next Time. When not writing, Kate maintains an active psychotherapy practice, with a particular focus on personal reinvention and life transitions. She lives with her family in Toronto.



ELIZABETH RENZETTIis a bestselling Canadian author and journalist. She has worked for theGlobe and Mailas a reporter, editor, and columnist. In 2020, she won the Landsberg Award for her reporting on gender equality. She is the author of the essay collectionShrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girlsand the novelBased on a True Story. Her bookWhat She Said: Conversations about Equalitywill be published in 2024. She lives in Toronto with her family.

ISBN: 9781487012809
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Published: May 01, 2025

"(A) Timely, page-turning, enjoyable cozy." - Booklist"A smart whodunnit." -Chatelaine ?"Hilton and Renzetti deliver zingy one-liners as they skewer pseudoscience, social influencers, self-help culture and local politics, built on a plot that would make any judgy mother proud." -Zoomer Magazine"Great fun and perfect for that first weekend at the cottage." - The Globe and Mail"A darned good whodunit full of whiz-bang characters." - Winnipeg Free Press"A fun mystery ... underlined by a biting critique of conspiracy quackery which reads as all too timely." - Pickle Me This Blog