Kathy Herman Shred of Evidence

Shred of Evidence

Kathy Herman

Multnomah, Apr 2005, $12.99, 400 pp.

ISBN: 1590523482

Former newspaper editor, Ellen Jones and her husband Guy, a lawyer, have moved into their new home Seaport, Florida. Ellen works on a novel while Guy commutes to Tallahassee to practice law.

At a supermarket Ellen meets two other newcomers depressed and lonely Julie Hamilton and her two years old daughter Sarah Beth. Not long afterward, Ellen is at a diner when she overhears a conversation that accuses Julie's husband Ross of child abuse. Out of fear for the child and the mother Ellen reports what she heard to police chief, who says he will make inquiries. Not feeling that is enough, Ellen investigates Ross. She soon realizes her initial opinion and that of others that he was an abuser seems wrong although he is someone with a shady deadly past as a newspaper article claims he killed two boys, ran over his own son, and is the prime suspect in the disappearance of two missing girls. Ellen fears she waited too long too speak out as Sarah Beth has vanished.

The storyline grips readers who will worry that Sarah Beth perhaps has been killed by parental abuse, which overshadows the return of the Baxter series stars Ellen and Guy in the first Seaport saga tale. The storyline serves as a reminder not to jump to conclusions especially based on gossip and rumors (mindful of Harriet the Spy). Though the moral message is overly pounded with unnecessary cul de sac sidebars, fans of the Baxter tales will enjoy the relocation of the stars.

Harriet Klausner