Your TV lineup just got a lot more interesting. On September 24th, Murder in a Small Town premieres on Fox, available for next-day streaming on Hulu.
In this series, Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) has been worn thin by the brutal grind of big-city police work. Relocating to a quiet coastal town in British Columbia, he hopes to nurse his battered psyche back to health.
But death never rests, and as bodies wash up on his new shore, he'll have to keep his old investigative skills sharp to solve a slew of murders.
This highly anticipated, fresh new series is based on the Karl Alberg novels by L.R. Wright.
First published in 1985, the debut book in the series, The Suspect was the first (and still the only) Canadian novel to win the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery of the Year, given annually by the Mystery Writers of America.
Making this stellar achievement even more astonishing, this was Wright's first mystery novel—and the book beat out titles by such heavy hitters in the industry as Ruth Rendell and Paul Auster.
Eventually stretching to nine books, Wright's series became a cult classic among mystery readers, who prized its air of ironic melancholy, the vividly drawn, isolated, sea-battered coastal town where the plots unfold, and the slow-burn romance that develops between Alberg and the town's librarian, who has some scars of her own.
The show is sure to become one of your new favorites; why not read the books behind it!
Here's a look at the first six novels in the Alberg and Cassandra series.
Murder in a Small Town book trailer. Read it before you stream it!
The Book Series
The Suspect
Karl Alberg has just resettled himself in a coastal town just north of Vancouver. He's looking forward to recovering from years of urban police work.
The quiet of Sechelt is soothing, and the local librarian is as interesting as she is attractive. It's a promising start.
But this sunny locale isn't immune to dark secrets. When bleak truths rise to the surface, Alberg finds himself missing the simplicity of big city crime.
Sleep While I Sing
Karl Alberg spent a career solving crimes in a big city, taking down gangsters, druglords, and any other manner of hardened criminals. So how is he getting stumped by a murder in the sunny and sweet coastal city of Sechelt, British Colombia?
The victim of this perplexing and gruesome crime was discovered resting against a tree, her face wiped clean and her neck sliced from ear to ear. Most hauntingly of all, no one can tell Alberg the woman's name.
Hiring a local artist to draw the woman without her mortal wound, Alberg hopes that someone will be able to put a name to the face. But as the answers start to rush in, they all lead him to the one person he dreads to think about.
A Chill Rain in January
Though it's chilly for most Canadians, Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg sees nothing but sunshine.
Cassandra Mitchell seems to treat both the town of Sechelt and Alberg's bed as a revolving door, popping in and out as she pleases. But she's graced Alberg with her presence once more, and he couldn't be more pleased.
While Alberg is more or less the police chief, things have been smooth sailing for him lately. The biggest problem on hand is the spitfire old woman who has escaped from her retirement home.
Unfortunately, clouds are on the horizon for Alberg. A few miles away lives Zoe Strachan, the town's newest resident—the kind of woman tempting enough to get away with murder.
When her brother has a nasty fall down her basement stairs and dies, Zoe seems to have law enforcement eating out of the palm of her hand. Alberg isn't so easy to fool, but something about this case has him off his game.
Fall from Grace
A heatwave is rolling through Sechelt, and RCMP Sergeant Karl Alberg is eager to get away with his girlfriend Cassandra. Unfortunately, their plans are derailed when a dead body is found on the beach.
Alberg's experience reminds him that people do crazy things in the heat. But is there something he's missing about this fatal plunge?
Beyond petting zoo vandalism and drownings, Alberg has even more on his plate. His personal life has his sweating worse than the summer when his daughter comes to visit and his ex-wife prepares to get remarried.
Prized Possessions
Delusion can be deadly, and Emma O’Brea's biggest delusion is her marriage. After her husband Charlie vanishes, she realizes she was the last person in all of Canada to realize how eager he was to leave.
Eddie Addison has his own delusions. An overaged delivery boy whose lacking in smarts, he's caught up in a dangerous obsession with a beautiful young student.
Emma and Eddie couldn't be more different. Yet as Karl Alberg is brought in to investigate Charlie's disappearance, their delusions seem to be on a fast track to collide.
A Touch of Panic
While Gordon Murphy may be a genius when it comes to business, he does nothing but fumble when it comes to love. Considering all that, Sergeant Karl Alberg is hardly worried when Murphy takes a fancy to his girlfriend Cassandra.
The couple is solid and happy, and Alberg has real problems to focus on at work. From thieving to complicated matters of custody, this quiet town is never all that quiet.
And killers never stay away for long…
