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David Bard is a seasoned detective for the La Graciosia Sheriff's department in Chumash County California. He has watched the county go from small and sleepy to a thriving, growing area. Naturally the town movers and shakers are very interested in keeping their reputation as a low crime, nice place to live. Additionally, the county has a female district attorney with her eye on a state position. David and his wife have divorced; they have a preteen daughter, Molly who still wishes her parents were together and at times makes it rough on both parents, but especially her Dad. Bard still mourns the dissolution of his marriage as well. Late one Sunday afternoon Ollie, a kindly, retired computer expert, who also teaches music to the town's children, dies in a fire at his home. Appallingly, one of his students, (and Molly's’ good friend), dies in the fire with Ollie. The sheriff and the DA want to believe it is an accident. David doesn't buy the accident theory and pushes until he proves it was murder. The sheriff assigns him the case and soon it looks as if he solved it. As the story progresses David has doubts about the resolution of this case; he soon butts heads with the Sheriff, the town leaders and the DA who are all happy with the culprit they have. Detective Bard must decide whether to be loyal to the department or true to his feelings. The author is obviously a very talented writer, however, the book has a very slow beginning; give it 50 or so pages and it will grab the reader's attention and holds on till the end. Siegal leads one down the garden path several times; at one point it becomes obvious who the murderer is, but what is the motive, for that one has to be patient. There are new surprises and twists to the case right to the last few chapters. The ending is quite satisfying and dramatic. Perhaps the plot could have moved a little faster, but in spite of that it is a good yarn; I definitely wanted to find who did it and why. The characters are not as satisfyingly or written as well as the story is; many of them seemed very nice folk, but they just stayed acquaintances, not friends. I just couldn't find myself caring about and rooting for them. Even with of these objections I would definitely recommend the book
Reviewed by Martha Hopkins, January 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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