The K handshape - Maureen Jennings

Short-listed for the 2009 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel

Christine Morris is awakened early on a chill November morning by a phone call from one of her colleagues, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Leo Forgach. His daughter, Deirdre, is missing. Despite the fact that she and the doctor have never seen eye to eye, Christine agrees to help him search for Deirdre - only to discover her brutally strangled body in the lake.


Heartbroken, Leo tells Christine that his daughter was deaf and had recently given birth to a child she had deliberately ensured would be deaf. As a militant suporter of the Deaf Culture, Deirdre wanted a deaf child to make a political statement. Although some people supported her stand, many did not - including Deirdre's own father. Christine must use her new kills as a forensic profiler to discover the killer.