A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did it lead to her plunge to death, in a drunken stupor, off the dock outside her secluded lakefront lodge?

Was it an accident? A suicide? Or cold-blooded murder? Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is determined to find out.

Fati arrives in Lake Templeton to find secrets that run as deep as the City’s sewers. Everyone is hiding something and nothing is as it seems. A cult escapee. A corrupt politician. A struggling airline. A multi-million dollar public-private project to revitalize the Lake Templeton waterfront. How are they all connected?

As Fati valiantly unravels the knots, another body is found on the shore. Is it the same killer? And can Fati stop them before they strike again?

My passion for books started when I was a young child, growing up in a restrictive, patriarchal society in Karachi, Pakistan. I escaped to colorful worlds through books. As a teenager, some of my favorite works were by authors such as Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, and Jeffrey Archer.

In my teenage years, I attempted my first written work, a series written in longhand which featured bold characters based on me and my friends, living glamorous, jet set lives. The notebooks were passed around between all the girls at school until they were dogeared.

In college, I decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing, where I completed an Honours Thesis, a collection of short stories. After college, real life took over, and my unpublished manuscript was locked away in a drawer. I got a job, went all in on building an exciting banking career, with late nights, lots of hobnobbing, and promotions every few years. Writing went on the backburner. Until I rediscovered my passion through blogging on Medium.

It was during the pandemic in 2020 that I set out to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. I chose the mystery genre because it is the perfect blend of analytical and creative. I can use my logical thinking skills, honed through a 15-year banking career, to create a plot with a clue trail that makes sense. And I get to flex my creative muscle by building dynamic, multi-faceted characters. I endeavour to write the kind of story that keeps my reader turning the page, unable to put the book down because they are desperate to find out what happens next. The type of book that I have always loved reading.

My books are set in the beautiful, coastal province of British Columbia in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, which I am proud to call home. As an immigrant Canadian, I am committed to writing novels that feature the cultural tapestry of my homeland, with well-rounded, diverse characters. The Lake Templeton Murders is my debut novel but I have many more up my sleeve, featuring the indomitable Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi.

Learn more about my on my website: www.hsburney.com

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