Toronto’s Breakthrough Entertainment and Winnipeg’s Buffalo Gal Pictures are partnering to adapt author/screenwriter Keith Ross Leckie’s novel Coppermine for the big screen.

Set in Edmonton a century ago and based on a true story, the novel begins with a double murder investigation in which a police officer and his young interpreter discover the dismembered remains of two priests in a remote Arctic region called the Coppermine. The murder-mystery novel was optioned by Breakthrough and Leckie has been tapped to pen the script.

The prodcos previously collaborated on the comedy-drama series Less Than Kind, which ran for four seasons (48 episodes) between 2008 and 2013. The first season of the show aired on Citytv while the subsequent three seasons aired on HBO Canada.

Leckie’s other TV writing credits include the Lifetime MOW An Officer and a Murderer and CBC’s 2003 documentary Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion. The Toronto-based author’s other novels include Terrors of the Earth and The Seventh Gate.

At this time there is no broadcaster attached to the Coppermine adaptation.