Kathryn R. Wall, Resurrection Road

Kathryn R. Wall, Resurrection Road - On Hilton Head Island, "Inquirey' Agent" Bay Tanner and her lover Interpol Operative Alain Darnay notice a car is following them. Darnay maneuvers it so they catch the teen and rough him up a little before bringing him to Bay's house to see why Cart Anderson was following them. They tell them he wants to know why Bay killed his father. Although Bay did not murder his dad, he was involved in a criminal scheme that went bad and he died in an accident.

After they let Cart go, he fails to appear at his grandmother's house and soon a missing person's report is filed. When Cart's car is found near Fort Fremont on Land's End, they visit the area and are welcomed by Minnie Maude Bleaker, the only person who lives in the isolated area. She hints that she knows what is going on, but is found dead on her living room floor before she talks. Bay and Alain become the prime suspects in her death and Cart's disappearance. Trying to find out who is behind the effort to frame them almost costs Bay her life.

RESURRECTION ROAD gives the reader a taste of what it is like living in the modern day (with especially the mint julep crowd) good ol' boy network and the migration of the Northerners. This is an excellent who-done-it with a real puzzle trying to figure out who was trying to frame the heroine and why. There are many viable suspects, including a police officer from the North, so readers will find the storyline totally fascinating. Kathryn R. Wall is a talented writer who is becoming a bright star in the mystery horizon.

St. Martin's, May 2005, $23.95, 304 pp.

ISBN 0312337930

Harriet Klausner