Mark E.Q. White

Jake Doyle and his ex-cop father, Malachy, run a Newfoundland detective agency. Their rugged seaside town never lacks for intriguing cases, and the Doyles don't always land on the right side of the law.

Of the Essence tells the story of a couple, Tom and Emily, who, after a chance encounter at a grocery store, have a fight which could end up being the last time they speak. Through alternating time lines between a frantic Tom racing through downtown St. John's and the catalyst encounter, Tom discovers that some battles are truly worth fighting, while others are insignificant in the grander scale.

After 30 years of salt beef and baloney, the instinctively vegan Isabel hops a bay bus to the city supermarket. But a nosy stock boy, a cashier with his laminated flip book of produce codes could wreak havoc with her newfound confidence.