Book record · Former Barking Rain Press title
The Hanged Man's Noose:
A Glass Dolphin Mystery
First published by Barking Rain Press in July 2015, this amateur-sleuth mystery follows freelance journalist Emily Garland as opposition to a big-box development in Lount's Landing turns deadly. Book one of the Glass Dolphin Mysteries.
This book was once published by Barking Rain Press, which announced its closure in 2019. This site is not that publisher and does not sell books. See “Finding the book today” below.
Premise
The Hanged Man’s Noose opens the Glass Dolphin Mysteries. Its lead is Emily Garland, a freelance journalist who comes to Lount’s Landing, a small Ontario town with a historic Main Street, as editor of a niche magazine. While interviewing local business owners she finds that much of the town is set against a plan by real estate developer Garrett Stonehaven to turn an old schoolhouse into a big-box store.
One of the loudest opponents is Arabella Carpenter, who owns an antiques shop called the Glass Dolphin. After a town hall meeting, an outspoken critic of the project dies. A few days later a second body is found. Both deaths are ruled accidental, but Emily doesn’t believe it. She joins forces with Arabella to expose the developer’s plans before anyone else is hurt. This summary follows the publisher’s 2015 press release and later bibliographic listings, and it stops where those descriptions stop.
Publication history
Barking Rain Press published the novel in July 2015. The press release announcing it was issued from Vancouver, Washington, and described Barking Rain Press as a non-profit fiction publisher and an imprint of BRP Publishing Group, based in the Portland/Vancouver area. That first edition came out as a trade paperback (178 pages per the release; Open Library records 182) (ISBN 978-1-941295-24-3) and as an eBook in ePub, Kindle and PDF formats (ISBN 978-1-941295-25-0). It carried Library of Congress control number 2015937582. Open Library’s record gives the paperback a publication date of 22 July 2015.
It was the author’s first novel. She planned the Glass Dolphin series so that each book would put a different character in the lead. Barking Rain Press published the second book, A Hole in One, in March 2018. The author’s bibliography lists a second edition of The Hanged Man’s Noose from Superior Shores Press in November 2018. A third series book, Where There’s a Will, followed from Superior Shores Press in 2020.
The Barking Rain Press edition is a historical edition. This site has no connection to the original press or to any current publisher of the book.
Reading notes
These notes come from desk research using publisher descriptions, the author’s interviews and published reviews. They are not a reading report.
The book falls in the amateur-sleuth tradition. An ordinary person, here a journalist, doubts an official ruling and starts asking questions. In a 2016 interview the author called it an amateur-sleuth mystery but separated it from the cosy subgenre: it has a small-town setting and an amateur sleuth but keeps overt violence, sex and strong language off the page, and it doesn’t use the cats, crafts and recipes that cosies often feature. Its BISAC codes put it under women sleuths, amateur sleuth and suspense.
The setting does a lot of work. In a guest post the author explained that Lount’s Landing is an idealised mix of two real towns north of Toronto, Holland Landing and Newmarket. She took the name from Samuel Lount, a nineteenth-century figure who was hanged for treason, and that history is behind the book’s title. The central conflict pits commercial development against a historic main street. A contemporary review also picked out small-town relationships and the tension between growth and preservation as major threads. The antiques shop links the series to its author’s background: she spent years as a freelance writer covering art and antiques.
Finding the book today
The Barking Rain Press printing is out of print, but secondhand copies may still turn up. The author’s website (judypenzsheluk.com) is the best place to check the current status of the series, and it lists the later Superior Shores Press edition. Public library catalogues and WorldCat can help find a copy to borrow; searching by ISBN 9781941295243 will pick up the original paperback. This page doesn’t say where the book is on sale or at what price.
Finding the book today
The Barking Rain Press edition is out of print. The author's own website lists a second edition from Superior Shores Press (2018); public library catalogues and WorldCat are the most reliable places to locate either edition.
Discussion questions
- Lount's Landing is named after a man executed for treason. How does a town's history shape the way its residents respond to change?
- The central dispute is over replacing an old schoolhouse with a large retail store. What arguments can be made on each side of that kind of local fight?
- Emily Garland arrives as an outsider working for a niche local magazine. What advantages and disadvantages does an outsider have when asking questions in a small community?
- Emily and Arabella Carpenter form an alliance. What does each bring to the partnership, and what might strain it?
- Both deaths are officially ruled accidental. Why might an amateur investigator be more willing than the authorities to doubt an official finding?
- The author has described the book as an amateur-sleuth mystery without the usual cosy trappings. Where would you place it between cosy and suspense, and why?
- How does an antiques shop work as a setting for a mystery series about uncovering the past?
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Sources
- Now in Print & eBook: "The Hanged Man's Noose" by Debut Canadian Author Judy Penz Sheluk (press release, 31 July 2015), PR.com. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Judy Penz Sheluk: Books, Judy Penz Sheluk (author website). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- The Hanged Man's Noose (Open Library edition record), Open Library. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Hanged Man's Noose by Judy Penz Sheluk (FictionDB), FictionDB. Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Guest Blogger Judy Penz Sheluk: Creating a Fictional Town, Debra H. Goldstein (blog). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- Quick Fire At The Slaughterhouse: Interview With Judy Penz Sheluk, Richard Godwin (blog). Accessed 2026-11-12.
- The Hanged Man's Noose: A Glass Dolphin Mystery – A Review and a Giveaway, Carol Baldwin (blog). Accessed 2026-11-12.