Body Check — Steven Owad

Somebody wants Behn McAvoy dead. Behn is sure of this because he has just had to drown an assailant in his favourite fishing hole. But who would want to kill an aging hockey player from a minor-league team in Alberta? It could be a vitamin-addicted ex-con with a need for cash to fund a new scam. Or a self-adoring teammate who can parlay Behn's demise into a ticket to the NHL. Then there's his ex-wife from a three-week marriage, part of a bourbon-blurred NHL stint that Behn has spent a decade trying to forget. It's hard to uncover answers when Behn's only allies are an overworked cop, a somnolent girlfriend and a university professor who advises students to quit school in favour of menial labour. Finding out who's calling the shots would be easier to do if only the shots would stop coming.