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IN THE SPIRIT OF MURDER
by Laura Belgrave
Silver Dagger Press, June 2000
296 pages
$15.00
ISBN: 1570721246


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

We tend to think of police procedurals as urban and gritty, featuring a well-oiled police department confronting seasoned crooks. In reality, the genre is more flexible than that, as any reader of Tony Hillerman or Joan Hess can tell you. But Laura Belgrave stretches the procedural in new directions by depositing an experienced homicide detective into a dysfunctional small-town police department better equipped to handle speed traps than violent murder.

Lieutenant Claudia Hershey has left the Cleveland police department to make a better life for herself and her teenaged daughter Robin. She lands in tiny Indian Run, Florida, hired largely by mistake (Chief Suggs thought she was a Claude, not a Claudia) in a town that doesn't take well to newcomers. And then there's a murder. On Halloween night, a medium is found dead in her own kitchen, her index finger broken and her face bashed beyond recognition.

That murder if followed by three others, all of the victims mediums or psychics, all of them left with a broken index finger among their other injuries. And Hershey must find the killer, all the time battling a chief who doesn't quite trust her and a department full of undertrained although generally well-meaning subordinates. She must also overcome her skepticism about the paranormal to search for answers in Indian Run's surprising populous psychic community.

Laura Belgrave's portrayal of Hershey's struggle to gain the respect and support of her department is solid. And anyone who's raised (or been) a teenager will find the strained relationship between Hershey and daughter Robin right on the mark. But Belgrave is a bit too heavy-handed in some cases: a medium's prediction to Hershey early on telegraphed to obviously the tense climactic scene, and Hershey's out-of-town flight to uncover new information about a suspect's motives seems almost formulaic.

Nonetheless, In the Spirit of Murder is a promising debut, and Claudia Hershey an engaging heroine. It will be interesting to see what sorts of crimes Indian Run will produce to challenge her in the future.

Reviewed by Lisa Dellwo, August 2001

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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