Frank Anderson fixes stuff. He can fix porch swings for the ladies and boat motors for the guys, any day and all day. But can he fix the fear in the eyes of a pretty woman? Anderson hadn’t even met Marjorie Webster before she turned up on his doorstep that evening to say she has run into a body out on Awan Lake. Helping the police recover the corpse the next day leads both of them into a … fourteen-day search for answers. As the lake becomes the centre of a web of conflict, environmental activists, international criminals and murder, the answers lead to more problems.
Fans of American-Canadian author John Irving will feel at home with Kingsmill’s work. Sunset at 20:47 is the first novel in the author’s Awan Lake series: “In this, his first novel, Peter Kingsmill develops an intimate portrait of, apparently, a fictional lakeside village,” comments a Goodreads reviewer. “Awan Lake is as real to me now as any of my own favourite places, and he’s inhabited it with characters just as compelling. 5 stars!”
RATED PG in Canada and USA.
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I received this book from a BookFunnel giveaway. This is the first book I have read by this author but it won’t be the last. In my opinion, Mr. Kingsmill is a consummate storyteller. He has created characters that are completely realistic and three-dimensional. They are people you could actually know and not larger than life caricatures. Since the story mainly takes place on Awan Lake I’ll use boating imagery to describe my opinion of the book. It starts out as a potentially exciting journey down the river, then becomes a slow, easy voyage with intermittent rapids and whirlpools providing plenty of excitement. Now don’t let the phrase “slow, easy voyage” make you think this book is boring; it is anything but. It holds your interest by doing what all good books should do – it tells a great story. With all of the “shoot ’em up, blood & guts” stories out there this book is a welcome change. It is a well-told story that leaves you wanting to get your hands on the next installment. I can’t wait.
I received a free electronic copy of this ARC novel from Netgalley, Peter Kingsmill, and Kobo Writing Life. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest, personal opinion of this work. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and will look for more from Kingsmill. This is the first of a series, I hope. If you like action-adventure stories, Sunset at 20:47 is right up your alley.
This excellent debut novel covers a short span of time, from the morning of July 12 through the evening of July 26th. Our protagonists are all well presented, the setting wild and wonderful at the village on Awan Lake, Spirit River township in northern Alberta, Canada, in the present time and the excitement is steady and engrossing.
Frank Anderson is a carpenter and handyman, well respected in this tiny lakeside community and making a steady living out of his place, a 30×30 foot building with a 30×10 living area boxed off in the back, and his shop in the front. He is the owner of various interesting tools – a professionally set up boat – most all the bells and whistles available and Anderson is retired Coast Guard so he knows boats, a little Kubota tractor for moving dirt or snow, a pontoon barge for towing his Kubota and other incidentals to other places on the lake, an all-terrain vehicle, and an old Chevrolet Colorado pick-up truck. Anderson meets the Webster sisters when Marjorie encounters a corpse in the lake while kayaking. She and her sister Wendy, are the only residents of a small island in the lake. Our bad guys are all concentrated on the north side of this big lake – a mining company, their henchmen, and several old hippy fanatics. And then there are the bad guys they know nothing about – yet.
The residents of this small community are all connected in some way, as are most small towns. Knowing the connections is essential to understanding the essence of that community – and Anderson is shushing it out as he goes along.