ISBN: 1-4025-7207-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com
Humor, often bittersweet, frames this somewhat melodramatic portrayal of passion, and search for truth and happines in the modern South.
Reviewed by David on November 18, 2005
Genre: Mystery (Humor, Romance, American South, Private Investigator)
Synopsis: Sarah Booth Delaney is a thirty-something scion of a prominent Mississippi family. Having stumbled in investigation of crimes, she has made it her source of income.
Depressed gain by her lack of romantic life, or perhaps the unsatisfactory way it has unfolded, Sarah Booth is distracted by a difficult case. Doreen Mallory, a beautiful and charismatic preacher is arrested for murder. Nobody of Doreen's acquaintance believes the profoundly serene woman has committed the crime, and yet the New Orleans police seem to have an airtight case.
Sarah Booth and her best friend and investigative partner Tinkie travel to New Orleans to look into the case. The search reveals ugly secrets in the past and explosive secrets in the present. Many people do not wish the two women to continue the effort; but it may be their personal lives that carry the greatest danger.
Full Review: As a background to an already dramatic investigation, both Sarah Booth Delany and Tinkie Richards, who are very likable characters, have plenty of personal adventures. From the angst of competing love affairs, to fears of death and society infighting, the noval is a mixture of the poignant and the melodramatic. The actual mystery is telegraphed some time before the resolution, and thus loses something in suspense. Between the soap-opera of Sarah Booth's love life and the slightly predictable plot filled with red herrings, the book is both entertaining and irritating.
Overall: 6; Plot: 5; Characters: 6; Style: 5.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 2004, Recorded Books, 2004, Audio Cassette, 8 cassettes
ISBN: 1-4025-7207-7 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com