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Lone Butte author has new book

New highway mystery from South Cariboo author R.E. Donald
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R.E. (Ruth) Donald

Lone Butte resident R.E. (Ruth) Donald has recently released the fourth novel in a mystery series featuring a former RCMP homicide investigator who drives a big rig for a British Columbia trucking company.

Donald, who worked in the B.C. transportation industry for more than 20 years, names each novel after a highway travelled in the story, so her series is appropriately named the Highway Mysteries.

The trucker detective is loosely based on her late husband, Jim Donald, who was a well-known figure in the B.C. trucking world before his death in 1996. He also had ties to the South Cariboo, having worked briefly in his teens as a cattle hand at Chris Horn’s ranch.

“I wanted to write traditional mysteries – sometimes called whodunits – with a uniquely North American setting,” says the author.

With a hero who is always on the road, Donald says she can use various locations. Much of her second novel, Ice on the Grapevine, is set in and around Los Angeles, she adds.

“My most recent one is set in the Yukon and Alaska. Using new locations for each book takes a lot of research, but it keeps the scenarios fresh and interesting for readers.”

Her latest release is Sundown on Top of the World, named for the highway that links Dawson City, Yukon with Tok, Alaska.

All four books are available through Amazon in digital and print editions.

Donald, who moved to Lone Butte from Langley in 2013, is now at work on a fifth novel in the series and hopes to have it completed by the end of this year.

She has two Internet sites for more information: REDonald.com and ProudHorsePublishing.com.

Donald will have a booth at Lone Butte Rocks on July 25. She invites folks to drop by for a chat.