A search for a man armed with a rifle that hasn't been shot since the war of 1812 leads to an investigation that takes Marc Edwards from a newspaper office into the mansions of the Family Compact, and even to the local brewery, as the clues he uncovers point closer and closer to home. Now lieutenant in charge of security at Government House in Toronto, Marc Edwards is eager for action in both his personal and professional life. His letters to Beth Smallman in Crawford Corners have gone unanswered and writing speeches for Lieutenant Governor Francis Bond Head is not the stuff of excitement. Then, during an election speech by Bond Head, a shot fells a government minister sitting just behind him and Marc on the hustings. Marc's troop gallops after an armed man who flees the scene, killing him when he points his rifle at Marc's chest. Then they discover that the rifle has not been fired since the war of 1812. Mortified by his troop's mistake, Marc accepts the help of Horatio Cobb, one of Toronto's three constables in its brand new police force. He also accepts the affections of Eliza Dewart-Smythe, who is almost, but not quite, as beguiling as Beth. His investigation takes him from William Lyon Mackenzie's newspaper office into the mansions of the Family Compact, and to the local brewery, as the clues he uncovers point closer and closer to home.  

Lily’s Story tells the tale of a remarkable pioneer woman, born in the backwoods of Lambton County, Ontario in 1840. Lily’s struggle to survive and grow and discover her place in the scheme of things is complicated not only by the ordinary travail of frontier living, but by the impact of historical events themselves: the railway rivalries of the 1860s and 70s, the accidental discovery of oil at Petrolia, the grand tour of the Prince of Wales in 1860, the Underground Railroad ferrying liberated slaves to safety in Canada, the Riel Rebellions, the Great War and the influenza pandemic that followed it. During her long life, Lily witnesses the birth of a nation, and the founding and rise of her home village of Point Edward. Lily’s Story is part history and part fable, replete with historical personages and a bizarre gallery of local characters. It is ultimately a story of survival and loss, about aging and the changes it brings, and about the role of memory itself. This engrossing historical novel comes from the author of the acclaimed Rebellion Mysteries, starring Marc Edwards (Turncoat, Solemn Vows, Vital Secrets, Dubious Allegiance, and Bloody Relations).