What Happens in Conduct in Question?   

This is a darkly complex story of a Toronto lawyer. Harry Jenkins is trapped in a creaky old firm founded in the 1890’s. His domineering senior partner has him under his  thumb. Money consumes his wife, who has grown cold and remote, as she plans to leave for another man.

Harry yearns for freedom, independence and love, but before he attains that state, he must earn it at a price. He wants to live by his own principles, but they seem too vague and outmoded to suit the changed world he inhabits. The city is haunted by the murders of The Florist, a sadist with artistic pretensions, who believes he is called to judge the worthiness of his victims.

Suddenly, Harry’s partner drops dead at his feet in the office. His last words are ‘Have you ever experienced the passion, the thrall?’ Harry has not, but he senses his chance, for at least, a little freedom.

Almost immediately, he stumbles. Hungry for wealth and status, he accepts a retainer from a new client, Mr. Chin, for some land purchases surrounding the house of a wealthy old client, Marjorie Deighton. The conflict is immediate. The bank advises that his partner has nearly sunk the firm with debt. When the manager demands a payment, Harry recklessly uses some of Chin’s retainer before it is earned. Unwittingly, Harry is sucked into a money-laundering fraud.

When he visits Marjorie Deighton for instructions for a new will, he finds her dead in her home. It looks like a peaceful passing but Harry senses something is wrong.

            Marjorie has left two conflicting wills. The next of kin, two nieces and a nephew, with long histories of animosity, are more than ready to settle old scores. Not until her maid is found strangled at the house is Marjorie’s death seen as murder. Four more murders occur, each victim bearing The Florist’s trademark, a petal design etched with a knife. Katharine, a niece of Marjorie, is a tough-minded business woman  Driven by nymphomania, she unwittingly seduces the Florist and is left for dead by him. But she survives his vicious attack.

Harry is the first to realize the connections between the money laundering fraud and the murders. He confronts the killer at the root of the fraud and the string of murders. But Harry has come unarmed. He has no proof.

Because of his involvement, the police suspect Harry may be mastermind of the fraud. After he is questioned, he arrives home to find a note from his wife that she has left. In coping with the turmoil in his life, Harry comes to rely upon the beautiful Natasha, whose gentle guidance helps him extricate himself. With her, he finds solace as his marriage crumbles.

When Katharine recovers consciousness, she identifies the killer, whom Harry must stop before the next murder. He exposes the corruption at the core of the city’s largest and most respected law firm. Proceedings at the Law Society and investigations by the police are looming.