Mark de Castrique, Final Undertaking

Final Undertaking

Mark de Castrique

Poisoned Pen, Apr 2007, $24.95

ISBN 1590582292

In Gainesboro, North Carolina, elderly, distraught, Floridian Mitch Kowalski, grieving the loss of his wife Lucy, fires at people on Main Street before local Sheriff Tommy Lee Watkins kills him. Tommy Lee was one of the three people shot by the culprit so is unable to lead the official investigation. However, ignoring protocol, he asks former law enforcement official Barry Clayton to head the inquiry instead of his Deputy Reece Hutchins as experience is key. Barry, who runs Clayton and Clayton funeral home since his father began visibly suffering from Alzheimer's, reluctantly agrees.

Being a witness to the shootings, Barry realizes a fiftyish, paunchy white male was the target, but he escaped when he pushed a woman in front of him. To learn more about the motive, Barry heads to Florida to understand why Kowalski targeted the guy who got away. As he uncovers information involving Medicare fraud and misuse of prescription drugs, including Lucy's use of a non-prescribed medicine, Barry realizes that back in Appalachia, an outraged Reece is sabotaging his case. Still, he digs up dirt on a conspiracy that ties his home state to the not so sunny Sunshine state as some in the medical profession use and abuse senior citizens for exorbitant illegal profit.

In his fourth "Undertaking," Barry Clayton is at his best as he returns to his investigative roots. The murder mystery that he looks into turns into something so much greater as avarice leads to predators harming and even "killing" older Americans. Mark de Castrique provides a delightful conspiracy thriller that with what the IG has found in Iraq with soldiers placed at risk due to fraud, waste, and abuse makes this deep storyline seem plausible and real.

Harriet Klausner