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Mary Tucker accompanies her Uncle Bill and his intended on a ramble through the woods. They are attacked, Bill is murdered and Mary has no memory of the events that have happened. Laura, Bill's fiancée, has been taken so she is unable to identity the murderer. The community fears that there is a madman, who is unknown to the community, lurking in the nearby woods. Everyone becomes very protective of their kin as the Tucker family deals with their loss. Then Laura is returned to her family severely injured, most likely raped and refuses to discuss what happened. In fact, Laura refuses to speak or interact with anyone. Mary's mother Alafair believes that Mary knows her attacker's identity and does everything in her power to trigger her memory. This includes pestering her, reading her journal and keeping an eye on her at all times. As someone seems determined to kill Mary through potshots and other ambushes, Alafair's constant vigilance has some legitimacy. Mary chafes at the restrictions but understands her mother's concern. As she slowly remembers events in the past that have connections to Bill's murder, she is able to identity her attacker. The only question that remains is whether or not she will be able to remember who he is before he succeeds in killing her. THE DROP EDGE OF YONDER, as well as the two previous books in the Alafair Tucker mystery series, primarily focus on farming life, family relationships and the society of a small rural community. Alafair is a farm wife, who works hard doing her part to keep her family afloat. She has numerous children stretching all the way from 20-year-old twins to a two-year-old daughter. Alafair must juggle her immediate family commitments, her extended family commitments as well as her role in the community. She must help with birthing and with death. She must keep her family safe as well as encourage them to be independent. As she is the backbone of the family it makes sense that she plays the role of an investigator in this series. While this series does a wonderful job of portraying a farmer's wife in the early 1900s, this series does not provide a good mystery. In THE DROP EDGE OF YONDER, as well as the rest of the series, the characters go about their daily lives but still somehow manage to stop criminals. While Alafair does the questioning of a mother, which could be compared to the questioning of a detective, she does not actively pursue justice or the truth It is true that Alafair presses her daughter to remember the truth; however, this is the only step she takes in investigating. I prefer my investigators – regardless of their various roles in life – to actively investigate a crime. I do not like passive detectives or when the solution falls into the protagonist's lap, so I find it difficult to enjoy this series regardless of the character depth and development Donis Casey provides.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, May 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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