I'm sad to say that this book, the second Dana Leoni mystery, is also the last Dana Leoni mystery. I bought this book at a library sale 10 years ago and held on to it hoping that Pat Capponi would add to the series but she didn't write any more after this book and she died in 2020. She was an anti-poverty and mental health activist living in Toronto which was also the setting for her mysteries.

In the first book of the series, Last Stop Sunnyside, Dana Leoni and a diverse group of people living in a rooming house decide to investigate the death of a friend. After successfully concluding that endeavour Dana decides to set herself up as a private investigator with the rest of the rooming house crew as her assistants. For a while the only cases that come their way are non-paying but then an old friend of Dana's asks her to investigate his mother's odd behaviour. Mrs. Preston was recovering from a broken hip at a posh retirement home when she abruptly moved out and went back to her Rosedale mansion. She has refused to let her son visit and now the bank manager has confided that she has been writing large cheques to cash and draining her bank accounts. A friend from the retirement home tells Dana he saw a man and a woman visit Mrs. Preston and immediately after she moved out. From the description Dana thinks that Mrs. Preston must know them from the homeless shelter that is operated out of her church where she was a dedicated volunteer. Dana goes undercover to check out the shelter and gets more than she bargained for. Good thing that the group from the rooming house are watching her back.

Anyone familiar with Toronto will recognize lots of the places mentioned in this book and that's always fun. The depiction of the homeless moving from shelter to drop-in to meal programs isn't fun but it does seem true. ( )

I was pleased to discover Pat Capponi’s new series featuring Dana Leoni, of which The Corpse Will Keep is the second. Although this series is a bit more unrealistic than my favourite mysteries, the characters in these books are what keep me hooked. Dana, a budding PI, lives in a rooming house in Parkdale, a fairly down-and-out working-class neighbourhood in Toronto. The other residents in the rooming house help her solve the mystery, and through them, Capponi gives us a glimpse into the lives of some of Canada’s most marginalized citizens without turning them into problems or statistics. This is a fun, relatively light read.

A slightly different version of this review can be found on my blog, she reads and reads. ( )

first discovered Pat Capponi when I picked up a copy of Last Stop Sunnyside and have eagerly awaited the next novel in the engaging Dana Leoni series. Harper Collins Canada has just released The Corpse Will Keep.
Dana lives in a rooming house in Toronto. She moved there to hide out after a brutal assault and subsequent descent into depression forced her to abandon her studies at university. She lives with an eclectic group of characters. To most, they are on the fringes of society, mentally, socially, emotionally and medically challenged. They banded together in Last Stop Sunnyside to solve the disappearance of one of their housemates. This common goal gave them new focus and purpose in life. Now Dana is studying for her private investigator license and there is a "Dana Leoni - PI" sign on the door.

A television report on their case prompts Bernie, an old university friend of Dana's, to contact her. His mother Anna has become reclusive in the last few months and is clearing out her bank accounts. Bernie suspects that her behaviour might have something to do with the charity work she was doing.

"I need someone who can fit in anywhere...I need someone I can trust". And so they have an actual paying case.

The detail and understanding that Capponi brings to her dialogues, interactions and settings is authentic. Capponi is writing from experience, having survived the very situations she writes about. She is now one of Canada's leading mental health care advocates. For many readers, the details of living conditions will be an eye opener. The novels are set in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood.

This is not to say that the books are dark and humourless. They are funny as well. How do you tail someone when your bus pass has expired?

Capponi deftly portrays the lives of a marginalized group of society while at the same time providing us with an entertaining witty tale. She has managed to write an intriguing mystery that could be pulled from today's headlines using the most unlikely band of sleuths.