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Jo Banks has fond memories of a childhood spent working with her dad in his print shop. The clatter of an old Multilith printer churning out a job order is as familiar to the hotel doctor as the soft rumble of her father's voice. It’s only natural that Jo's curiosity is piqued when, during a bicycle ride through the backwaters of South Jersey, she hears the sound of one such machine coming from a nearby farm. Jo is drawn to the barn where Max Rawlings has set up a small print shop. Her first meeting with the taciturn printer doesn't go well. Distracted by the arrival of a stranger, Max catches his hand in the printer rollers. Jo frees his mangled fingers, but Max refuses to seek help at a local hospital. He insists that Dr Banks treat him in his home. When she hesitates, he pulls a gun, aims it at his mentally challenged daughter Lolly, and threatens to shoot the girl if Jo abandons him. Although not adept at hand surgery, Jo gives in and repairs the wounds as best she can. She continues to treat Max secretly over the next few days while getting to better know both him and his daughter. Their story is a complex one that leaves Jo heartsick but suspicious. Why is Max so reluctant to visit a hospital? Was he associated with a man found dead near his farm, a Philadelphia printer who was also a counterfeiter? And where is Lolly’s mother? These questions trouble Jo so greatly that she travels to New York to investigate Max’s past. What she discovers eventually changes the lives of all involved. Robin Hathaway writes two series featuring doctors as protagonists. This third novel starring New Jersey hotel doctor Jo Banks is pleasantly mystifying even while it begs the question, "Why did she do that?" When given the chance to leave the farm, why didn't Jo simply report Max's threat to the police? And why does she feel so responsible for Lolly's welfare? The answers to these questions can be found in Jo's personal history where a past medical error affects every decision she now makes. Jo's inability to forgive herself influences the way she interacts with people. It's the key to her personality and a major factor in each story in which she appears. Hathaway has allowed Jo to mature emotionally since the first book in the series, but self-doubt continues to haunt both her private and her professional life. While this is certainly a character-driven mystery, Hathaway's plotting is nicely done, as are her descriptions of the New Jersey countryside. SLEIGHT OF HAND should be well-received by fans of amateur sleuth novels.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, May 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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