Nancy Pickard, The Virgin of Small Plains

The Virgin of Small Plains

Nancy Pickard

Ballantine, May 2006, $23.95

ISBN: 0345470990

The sheriff and two men found the frozen corpse of a battered young woman with blood between her legs. They bring her body to the local doctor and he smashes the visage beyond recognition. However, none of the men realize someone witnessed what they did. The judge's son Mitch, looking for a Trojan to make love with the doctor's daughter Abby, saw what they did and recognized the woman before they ruined her face.

The next day his parents send Mitch off to college and cut him off from his friends and family in Small Plains, Kansas. They tell him to stay away or the doctor and the sheriff will accuse him of murder. The townsfolk feel sorry for the victim, and when no one comes forward claiming her, they provide a descent burial. Over time people visit her grave because it is said that's she thanks the town by performing miracles. Seventeen years after Mitch returns, and the secrets that the powerful men hid are in danger of being revealed.

Fans of Nancy Pickard's Jenny Cain mysteries will treasure her new work of psychological suspense with Gothic overtones. As the story of what happened seventeen years ago parallels the subplot of Mitch's return to his hometown, readers feel a sense of foreboding, as if something terrible is about to occur. Fantastic characterizations, several exciting subplots that tie into the main storyline, and a glimpse of small town justice make THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS a special reading experience.