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Callander Sleuth Society Mystery Book Club
December 2025 |
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Meeting date: December 9th, 2025 | 6:30pm |
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The Missing Millionaire: The True Story of Ambrose Small and the City Obsessed with Finding Him by Katie DaubsIn December 1919, Ambrose Small, the mercurial owner of the Grand Opera House in Toronto, closed a deal to sell his network of Ontario theatres, deposited a million-dollar cheque in his bank account, and was never seen again. As weeks turned to years, the disappearance became the most "extraordinary unsolved mystery" of its time. Everything about the sensational case would be called into question in the decades to come, including the motivations of his inner circle, his enemies, and the police who followed the trail across the continent, looking for answers in asylums, theatres, and the Pacific Northwest.
In The Missing Millionaire, Katie Daubs tells the story of the Small mystery, weaving together a gripping narrative with the social and cultural history of a city undergoing immense change. Daubs examines the characters who were connected to the case as the century carried on: Ambrose's religious wife, Theresa; his long-time secretary, Jack Doughty; his two unmarried sisters, Florence and Gertrude; Patrick Sullivan, a lawless ex-policeman; and Austin Mitchell, an overwhelmed detective. A series of trials exposed Small’s tumultuous business and personal relationships, while allegations and confessions swirled. But as the main players in the Small mystery died, they took their secrets to the grave, and Ambrose Small would be forever missing.
Drawing on extensive research, newly discovered archival material, and her own interviews with the descendants of key figures, Katie Daubs offers a rich portrait of life in an evolving city in the early twentieth century. Delving into a crime story about the power of the elite, she vividly recounts the page-turning tale of a cold case that is truly stranger than fiction.
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Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests
by Kj Whittle
Seven strangers meet for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening winds down, seven cards appear, one in front of each of the guests. On each card is a number--the age at which the guest will die. Spooked but skeptical, the guests disperse into the rainy night with the hope of forgetting the morbid turn of events. Two weeks later, one guest is dead. At exactly the age the card predicted. More guests begin to die as the years go on, each one dead at the same age as their card. It soon becomes clear that something much more sinister is afoot. Now, it's up to the quickly dwindling group of dinner guests to figure out who (or what) was behind that fateful dinner party all those years ago, before their numbers catch up with them, too. Told from the perspectives of each of the seven guests, spanning from hilarious to hateful, Seven reasons to murder your dinner guests is a spellbinding and mysterious exploration of mortality, begging the question--how would you live if you knew your number was up?--Provided by publisher.
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A Christmas Witness
by Charles Todd
Inspector Ian Rutledge investigates a possible attempted murder in this seasonal mystery novella from New York Times bestseller Charles Todd.
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The Intruder
by Freida McFadden
There's someone at your front door--should you let them in? Find out in a riveting new thriller from global sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid, Freida McFadden!Who knows what the storm will blow in...Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.She's young. She's alone. And she's covered in blood.The girl won't explain where she came from, or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.The girl has a dark secret. One she'll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.In this taut, deadly tale of survival and desperation, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden explores how far one girl will go to save herself.
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