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Laura and Richard Fleming, and their seven-month old daughter, Alice, come home from Boston to Byerly, North Carolina, near Halloween, to attend the reception for her Aunt Maggie who has finally married the local textile magnate, Big Bill Walters, and also so that the Flemings can show off the latest addition to the family. It turns out that someone has threatened Big Bill and Aunt Maggie wants Laurie Anne (who doesn't try and fight to be called Laura) and Richard to investigate the threats, quietly, without mentioning anything to Laura's friend, Junior Norton, chief of police of Byerly. Of course, Junior finds out what is going on and she and her new assistant, and Laura and Richard, try and find the culprit. Bill has received many threatening letters over the years and he finally gives Laura permission to read them. She sorts them out and starts by questioning the most likely suspects, one of whom is a pregnant woman who can't decide what to name the baby. It's a girl and the possible names are all family names : Charlaine, Aurora, Lily, or Sookie. This series is a superior example of that oft-maligned sub-genre, the southern cozy. Kelner avoids the worst stereotypes for more generally recognizable people. We all know people like Laura's aunts and cousins, and we all wish we had loving relatives to take some stress off our hands, even if only by baby sitting to give us some time alone. It seems as though they will never figure out who has tried to kill Big Bill. At the party, where the 4th attempt was made on his life, by putting rubbing alcohol into his drink, Junior and her assistant questioned the guests but Charles Manson could have walked in there with Saddam Hussein, and nobody would have noticed either of them, unless it was for wearing open-toed shoes after labor day Laurie Anne's relatives and friends are people we have met. I had some relatives who lived in South Carolina, and they were lots more eccentric than Laura's more northern family. My cousin raised alligators and fed them only kosher meat. None of the Byerly inhabitants come anywhere near that for weird. If you are a fan of the softer side of the crime fiction spectrum and haven't discovered Toni L. P. Kelner, what are you waiting for?
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, May 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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