Charlotte Douglas Pelican Bay

Pelican Bay

Charlotte Douglas

Next, Sep 2005, $5.50, 304 pp.

ISBN: 0373230397

Five years have passed since the Florida West Coast town of Pelican Bay has had a homicide until now. Police detective Maggie Skerritt investigates who murdered the twenty-two years old obese Edith Wainwright in her home while her boss wants her to fail because he hates female cops.

Clues at the crime scene lead to Karen Englewood, a counselor at the Pelican Bay Weight Management Clinic as it appears the victim died from cyanide laced chocolate apparently given as a reward by Karen. Maggie interviews Karen who insists she refuses to use Skinner's conditional behavior to help her clients lose weight; they must do it themselves with her assisting them. She also says that Edith was upbeat; this is confirmed by a co-worker. When a second victim Sophie Morelli dies from cyanide poisoning, the evidence again points towards her weight counselor Karen. Still nothing adds up as her retired former partner in Tampa and current lover Bill Malcolm tries to quietly help Maggie resolve what seems like a closed case in which a deranged weight counsellor is killing her clients.

PELICAN BAY is a terrific police procedural with a touch of a romantic subplot that stars forty-eight years old dedicated cop trying to look at a bewildering case from different perspectives because the obvious culprit seems innocent in at least her mind. The storyline is action-packed as Maggie works the clues that a serial killer leaves behind to either paint Karen as a crazed murderer or she is. Though the killer's motives take a strange twist that seems unnecessary, fans will appreciate this fine tale and look forward to the next appearance of Maggie once she finishes her sailing vacation with Bill.

Harriet Klausner