How far would you be willing to go to reveal the truth?
Finding a good work–life balance isn’t always easy when you’re sleeping with the boss. Charlie Watts is stressed as he studies for his private investigator’s licence, starts taking on his own cases and navigates his relationship with Declan Hunt. He thinks he can handle it, but every time their relationship seems to be going well, work gets in the way.
While Charlie investigates a threatening note that appears to be from a boy who disappeared ten years ago, Declan tries to find the meaning behind the final words of a man who was brutally murdered. As Declan and Charlie work to solve these mysteries, secrets from the past are exposed, Charlie is haunted by ghostly dreams and Declan is forced to confront some terrible truths from a hidden past.
Ultimately, the truth will be revealed, but at what cost? And will Declan and Charlie be able to solve the mystery of where they want to go next with their relationship before things at work take a terrible turn?
Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of violence and murder, and instances of homophobia.
General Release Date: 5th August 2025
Simon Griffin reclined on a large leather chair in the sun room of his home in Banff—a home that had been unimaginatively called Mountainview by its original owners. After he’d purchased it, Simon had renamed the house The Paddock as a tribute to his favourite bar in Toronto, the city he’d grown up in.
He never tired of the view from this vantage point, especially in the evening as the sun dipped behind Sundance Ridge, which spread out before him beyond the Bow River. The mountains carried a heavy coat of white January snow that slowly faded out of view as the darkness enveloped the surrounding property. It was six-thirty in the evening. The only light visible now was from the backyard lamps which flooded the property as a security measure against intruders and sightseers who wanted to get a look at Simon’s famous house.
Simon was proud that The Paddock was one of the largest private properties within the confines of the town of Banff—a property which lay within the national park boundary. When he’d bought it, he had wanted a place away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was ridiculously big for his needs—over seven hundred and fifty square metres in size with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. He had joked about having one bathroom for every day of the week. His friends had said he was nuts to leave the faster pace of the big city.
“Visiting Banff on a holiday, sure, but who actually lives there other than the kids who wait tables at the tourist restaurants?”
If Simon wanted big-city life, Calgary was only an hour away. He kept an apartment there in case he was in town late for business, but for the most part he liked Banff…except for the tourists. When he had moved here in 1984, it wasn’t so bad. Back then he’d been able to keep the gates to his driveway open and walk about the streets without having to dodge around people. But in recent years, things had gotten out of control, and now, during the summer, they even closed down Banff Avenue to cars in an attempt to control the flow of visitors. Ironically, thanks to its natural beauty and wide-open spaces, Banff was now overpopulated with tourists. They walked blindly out into the streets. Some even parked their cars in front of his driveway—“It’s okay, I’ll only be a minute.” Simon sometimes didn’t want to leave his property due to the swarms of picture-snapping sightseers.
Through the window, Simon spotted a young man playing with the latch on the back gate—another tourist caught out too late while snowshoeing along the well-worn trail which ran between the property and the Bow River. The man was persistent, rattling away at the gate latch.
Simon went to the back door and opened it.
“This is private property,” he called out, trying not to sound annoyed. “The gate’s locked. You’ll have to keep going along the river ’til you come to the street.” He waved the man in the right direction.
“Sorry,” the fellow yelled back. “Nice place. I thought this was my hotel.” The man shrugged and headed off in the wrong direction.
Idiot.
Once he was sure the man was gone, Simon headed back and flopped into his chair. If he had any real clout in this town, he’d have that damned pathway fenced off and the tourists would stop disturbing his peace.
His thoughts were interrupted as Jasmine, his housekeeper, brought him his after-dinner coffee.
He glanced up at her. Her shoulder-length wavy brown hair, rounded face and tall, slender frame were more familiar to him than his own features. She gave him a weak smile. Her glazed eyes and furrowed brow signalled to him that she was working through one of her migraines.
“Thank you, my dear,” he said. “Why don’t you just call it a day and go and rest that head?”
She gently rubbed her temples. “Thank you, sir. I’ll be fine.”
Although Jasmine worked for him, she was the closest thing Simon had to family… aside from his son.
“By the way, a boy dropped this off for you this afternoon,” she said, pulling out an envelope from her left pants pocket. “I would have given it to you earlier, but you had the office door closed, and I needed to lie down.”
Simon didn’t remember hearing a car on the drive, and a visitor would have had to buzz through on the intercom to gain access.
“A boy dropped it off?”
“That’s what I said.”
“At the front door?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But, Jasmine, the gates are locked. How did he get in to knock on the front door?”
She shrugged. “Maybe he climbed the fence.”
She turned and left him with the envelope. Just as she was closing the door she added, “He said someone asked him to deliver it.” Then she was gone.
Simon looked at the envelope in his hands. He turned it over and examined the back. Nothing. No identifiers. He opened the envelope. Inside he found a single letter-size piece of white paper with a simple hand-written message on it.
I’m watching you and I know what you did.
Simon’s hands began to shake when he saw the signature.
Milo.
* * * *
Simon pondered the letter all night. He wanted a second opinion, so he set up a walk with someone he trusted. Before he went out, he bundled up like he was preparing himself for a polar expedition. Icy temperatures in Banff were a winter certainty, but that didn’t mean he had to be uncomfortable. It was first thing in the morning and the cold hadn’t been tempered by the sun.
As he trudged along the frost-covered river walk, he said a brusque “Good morning” to each crack-of-dawn cross-country skier and snowshoer he came across. His companion, Tom Semple, frowned. In contrast to Simon, Tom dressed like he was going out for dinner at a high-end restaurant, sporting a camelhair coat with a tasteful scarf, brown gloves and shoes, and a fedora. His only concession to the cold was a pair of earmuffs.
“It’s damned cold out here and you have a gym in your house. If you’re trying to stay fit, you could be using that, instead of making us both freeze out here.”
“Fresh air, my old friend, is the key to a long and healthy life. Besides, I wanted to talk to you and be sure Jasmine didn’t hear us.”
“Oh?”
They trudged on for another ten metres before Simon reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Tom.
“This arrived yesterday. It was hand-delivered by a kid who clambered over the fence. He said he was told to give it to someone in the house. Jasmine received it and gave it to me.”
Tom read it.
I’m watching you and I know what you did.
Milo.
The colour in Tom’s cheeks paled slightly. He turned the paper over to check the back, then held it up to the light of the sun. “Do you think it’s some sort of joke? We had the best people in the company look for him, and…nothing.”
“Why would someone do this?” Simon asked.
“There are a lot of sick bastards out there.”
Simon shook his head. “Why hand-deliver it and not mail it?”
“They wanted to make sure it got to you. Nobody trusts the mail anymore.”
Simon frowned. “It can’t be just to pick at an old scab. Whoever sent this must want something. But what? They haven’t made a request for money…yet.”
Simon stared at Tom for a moment before he asked the question foremost on his mind. “Could it really be from Milo?”
Tom pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”
They walked in silence until they reached the gate to Simon’s backyard. Tom turned to him. “You know I busted my ass looking for him when he left—my whole team did.”
“I know you did.”
Tom shrugged. “Look, I have an idea. Maybe we just need an outside perspective on this.”
“Meaning?”
“I briefly met this guy last year at a function at the Palliser Hotel. He’s a private investigator based in Calgary. He specialises in cases requiring…discretion. I looked into the guy. From what I hear, he’s reliable, fearless and they say he can really take a punch.”
“You looked into the guy?” Simon smiled. “Sounds more like you’ve got a crush on him.”
“The point is,” Tom said, “maybe he could help.”
Simon raised an eyebrow. “I assume you already have this miracle-worker’s contact information?”
Tom rifled through his wallet, pulled out a creased business card and handed it to Simon. The card read Declan Hunt Investigations.
Simon stuffed it into his pocket.
“All right. I’ll call him. And maybe if you’re lucky, he’ll want to interrogate you…personally.” Simon cocked his head. “You all right, Tom? You don’t look like you’ve slept in a while.”
“Sleep’s for people who have nothing better to do with their all-too-short lives,” Tom snapped.
As they approached the house, Simon said, “I guess you’ve heard the rumours that Harlen Feist is in hospital. Pancreatic cancer, I hear.”
Tom nodded. “He probably won’t last long.”
“No.”
“I guess the company will be looking for his replacement,” Tom added.
“I suppose so.”
“Simon, you know you’re the obvious one for the job, don’t you?”
Simon turned to Tom. “All the more reason to clear up this Milo letter business. And fast.”
The Burnt marks Peter E. Fenton's fourth novel with Entwined Publishing. It is the third book in the Declan Hunt Mysteries series.
Peter's debut novel, The Woodcarver's Model,came out in April of 2022 and was a four time nominee in the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers' Choice Awards. The following year The Declan Hunt Mysteries series was launched with Mann Hunt which was released in the summer of 2023, followed by Hoodoo House in the summer of 2024. Both books were nominated for Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Awards and both books have recently been released in Spanish.
Peter is also a playwright who has penned the book for four musicals including: The Giant's Garden, Newfoundland Mary, Bemused, and The Detective Disappears, which have had professional productions across Canada and the U.S.A.
He spent many years working in palaeontology in remote locations including the Canadian Rockies, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Peter currently resides in Toronto, Canada with his partner of over twenty years. At heart, he is an incredible romantic.
Find out more about Peter at his website and blog and follow him on Instagram and Bluesky.
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