The Suspension Bridge

A literary whodunit set in an unreliable 1962, The Suspension Bridge takes place in a Canadian river city dreaming of fame as it sets about building the world’s biggest bridge. The newly-arrived Sister Harriet navigates a chaotic first year at upscale Saint Reginald’s Academy, where the mysterious disappearance of boarding students complicates her ongoing identity crisis. The sinister bridge is meant to usher in a new era for Bothonville (pronounced Buttonville), but the inner lives of several characters, including Harriet’s, fall victim to its supernatural influence. Part comic allegory and part fairy tale, The Suspension Bridge takes the reader, with dark humour and occasional sympathy, into a midair world of bridges of many sorts, that don’t always hold up as well as they promise.

ISBN: 9781998926121
Format: Paperback
Pages: 343
Publisher: Radiant Press
Published: October 15, 2024

“Anna Dowdall delivers the shivers. Oh, and if you hear a corpulent slithering sound, that will be Alfred Hitchcock stirring in his grave because he didn’t live long enough to film this quality novel. Yes, it's that good.”

—Alan Bradley, NYT bestselling author.

“At once dark and moody and irreverently cheeky, The Suspension Bridge joins together literary mystery with municipal intrigue and a young nun’s tell-all as she faces her own internal conflicts. Dowdall infuses rich atmosphere with captivating uncertainty and characters undeniably Canadian yet redolent of some other time and place.”

—Anthony Bidulka, author of Going to Beautiful, Crime Writers of Canada 2023 Best Crime Novel, and the Merry Bell trilogy (including 2024's From Sweetgrass Bridge)

“Please welcome a new and entertaining clerical sleuth: Sister Henrietta is intelligent, determined, funny, and not a little perplexed as she investigates some very odd doings in a very odd town determined to be the very model of the very modern year of 1962–– until it all goes pear-shaped. Filled with many twists and turns, The Suspension Bridge is a charming and deliciously convoluted tale served with both dark humour and a lighthearted air.”