A Striking Death

by David Anderson

  In his car, Drumm laughed. Maybe he should feel jealous but in reality, he just felt relieved. Emily was really and truly out of his life.

  Good luck to her, he thought, as he put the car into gear and drove away. And good luck to Randy Richards. He would need it.

  Author’s Note

  The city of York, as many readers will of course know, does not exist. It is a fictional place, containing parts of the cities of Newmarket and Aurora, and the Town of New Tecumseth.

  When Drumm is on the airplane, reminiscing about being trapped in a dump in Timmins, he is reliving an experience that my wife and I endured. We did indeed, upon the advice of a waitress, drive south quite a distance and enter the city landfill site late in the evening, in hopes of spotting a bear. We were locked in, as nightfall approached, and only managed to get out because of the kindness of a stranger. All I can say is, it seemed like a good idea at the time!

  Arthur Billinger is not a real person, nor are any of the other characters, but he is based on a teacher with whom I once worked.

  I have several times had the misfortune to be on strike, and a more boring, painful experience I have rarely encountered. Hours of pacing back and forth on hard concrete plays havoc with the legs, and it’s not a lot of fun to be honked at and cursed by passing motorists. One tends to walk with different partners at first and then settle into a routine with the same person, much as described in the novel.

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  prologue

  oneFebruary, 2001

  twoOctober, 2011

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