Frigon…a villain to the very end

Detective Frigon. Her mission had been clear from the very beginning: to see that Hannah Walker was held accountable for the college crimes she appeared to be framed for. She pursued the case with steady purpose, determined that justice be done—contrasting sharply with Smith, who, as the books unfolded, grew into an unexpected ally for Hannah.

When we first met Frigon in Deadly College Murders, she had been partners with Smith for the longest time, and she was the one who steadily put the idea into Smith’s head that Hannah was responsible for the college murders. When Hannah is arrested, Frigon relentlessly blames her at every turn, pushing accusations and public suspicion so far that it culminates in Hannah lashing out and attacking her.

Even after Hannah was released from jail, and even after enduring the heartbreak of her miscarriage, Frigon still insisted she was guilty and could not fathom why the authorities had let her go and allowed her to walk free. After Hannah finally learns who the true culprit is, she chooses not to call Frigon; instead she phones Smith, because she trusts him, and because although Smith had been antagonistic toward her at first, he had shown her moments of kindness. When Frigon learned that Smith had offered Hannah a position, she reacted with a mixture of surprise and resentment, unable to hide how threatened he felt by the turn of events. Although she thanked Smith for the offer, Hannah informed him, she wanted to go to Europe to clear her head and start fresh.

The next time we encounter Frigon is in Deadly Vows: Echoes of College Crimes. When Hannah returns to the States to investigate Connie’s murders, Frigon remains cold and antagonistic toward her, viewing Hannah’s presence as an unwelcome disruption to the established course of the investigation. The only moment Frigon’s hard exterior cracks is when she is about to tell Hannah that she knows who murdered Connie; tragically, before she can speak, the culprit silences her permanently to ensure the truth never comes out.

Frigon is based on someone I met a while ago. She is also loosely modeled after the sheriffs from the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and Murder, She Baked.