The Iron Gates

Fifteen years ago, Toronto’s Inspector Sands arrived at the Morrow family mansion as a rookie cop assisting in the investigation of the never-to-be-solved murder of Mrs. Morrow. Now the second Mrs. Morrow, Lucille, has gone missing. Sands sets himself the task of unraveling not only the disappearance but the cold case murder as well. The Morrows are a nearly picture-perfect family, although a tragedy fifteen years past casts a shadow over their tranquility. Lucille, the second wife of Dr. Andrew Morrow, has never quite won the affection of her two now-adult stepchildren, Polly and Martin, who were already adolescents when their mother died. But otherwise, the Morrows' lives are tranquil, comfortable, and well-heeled. Lucille's sister-in-law, Edith, who lives with them, is Lucille's closest friend; the two women have each devoted their lives to taking care of Andrew in wake of his tragic widowing. They are planning Polly's upcoming marriage to an army officer. And then one winter day Lucille disappears. She takes nothing with her, not even one of her coats. Everyone else in the family was away from the house on errands; the maids, who should have seen her leave, can offer no insight except that a short, rough-looking delivery man had left a box for Lucille that afternoon, and that shortly afterward there had been a scream from behind her locked door. Could the incredibly controlled and correct Lucille have run away? Or is something much more sinister afoot? Toronto police detective Inspector Sands is called in to investigate Mrs. Morrow's disappearance. It is not his first investigation at the Morrow residence—he was just a junior cop on a bike patrol fifteen years ago when he assisted in the case of the first Mrs. Morrow's unsolved murder. Maybe this time he'll be able to crack the secret at the heart of the doctor's beautiful family.