I stumbled upon this author’s works while at the local library and I am really glad that I did! Normally, I don’t go in for modern-day mysteries but I guess I felt the need for a bit of light reading and I am glad that I picked this one up! Reichs happens to be a forensic anthropologist who works for both the province of Quebec and for the State of North Carolina with an impressive educational pedigree. Deja Dead is her first medical/forensic mystery and it’s set in Montreal. Woohoo!

I don’t know what appeals to me most about the book…the first-person storyline of the heroine as she quickly discovers or concludes that there is a serial killer preying on women or the fact that the book is set in Montreal? Hrmm…in any case, for the former, it’s a taut, fast, well-written, well-researched story although Reichs is not very good with the “emotional” stuff (although it could just be me) and she has a quirk of ending her chapters with “cliffhangers”. For the latter, she’s very good with describing Montreal but there are a few odd quirks that would throw anyone off who has lived in Montreal during that time period. What are they?

• The book is set in 1994 but written in 1997. She has the owner of a small depanneur using a cellphone yet the heroine nor anyone else ever uses one or carries one. Back in 1994, cellphones were very rare with them being introduced into the Canadian market only about ten years before with widespread acceptance only in the early 2000s.
• One of the characters mentions “Ministry of Defence” and while there is a Ministry of National Defence in Canada, as far as I know, everyone just refers to them as the Armed Forces. When I read MoD, I automatically thought of the UK!
• Going back to the 1994/1997 timeline, as the heroine rides the Metro (subway for those of you unfamiliar with Montreal or Paris), the stops are announced. Hrmm…I don’t believe that automated Metro station announcements were instituted until AFTER 1994.
• And another language oddity, there is mention of one person never leaving “Quebec Province”. Huh? No one says Quebec Province…it’s always the Province of Quebec.

In any case, these quirks are not as jarring as the one with Louise Penny’s earlier works where they just seem to leap out at you and leave you wondering for a chapter or two. Deja Dead is a very good detour from my usual historical mysteries.

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Amidst all of the doom and gloom about the global recession, a lot of us have really begun to think about serious tight-beltening. Today, I came across what I think is an incredible bargain for those of us who are looking to give relatively inexpensive gifts to people on our Xmas lists. My local paper, the Globe and Mail (well, there are two more paid ones but the Globe is the only one I actually subscribe to), had an insert/flyer from UNICEF and in it they have a gift of 800 high-energy biscuits for $30!!! I was astounded by this because I’ve always thought that this little wonder food was about a buck each at least since I always had this vision that it was some sort of dehydrated MRE. But, nope, 800 biscuits for $30!

Whoops…looking back at that paragraph it seems that the recipient will receive 800 biscuits but in actual fact you are giving a gift in the person’s name. They do NOT end up with 800 biscuits on their doorstep. The 800 biscuits are purchased and sent to a needy child elsewhere.

I just came across something else called a “therapeutic spread”, which is something akin to peanut butter but is a lot more nutritious and is more easily digestible by children suffering from malnutrition. 25 sachets for $13! Geeze!

The big surprise is how inexpensive this life-saving food is and as I flip through the flyer there are other bargains to be had when you weigh them against the cost of a human life. So, I am going to urge you to have a look at the UNICEF website and see what you can give this year. Cheers!

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