Tracy Dunham Yes the River Knows

Yes the River Knows

Tracy Dunham

Berkley, Dec 2005, $23.95, 304 pp.

ISBN 0425205770

Once she was a high powered defense attorney in the big city riding high until she lost a case that she should have won. Her client was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Unable to cope with the results, Tal Jefferson returns to her hometown where she does probate, wills and defends DUI's.

While she and renowned artist Travis Whitlock are looking at the Wynnton River, they see a head float on by. The retrieved head is that of Daryl, the estranged husband of Tal's secretary June Atkins. A gun in June's possession turns out to be the murder weapon; Tal once again defends a client in a murder investigation. Matters turn strange when one of Tal's other clients is charged with a hit and run; Ike says he lent his truck to a friend. The truck contains the body of Ike's wife, but what links the murders is that Ike is June's lover. Tal believes the two killings were committed by the same person, and if she finds him it will exonerate June. She takes some perilous risks to prove her friend is innocent.

During Tal's latest case, she learns some home truths about herself, and what she needs to be happy. Readers will care for this ditzy but clever legal eagle who takes insane risks to make sure that her client is not convicted of a crime she didn't do. The murder mystery is well constructed with a false lead that is so convincing, readers will believe that the wrong man is the killer, just the way the author intends for us to be fooled. Tracy Dunham is a talented author who will have legal thriller fans valuing her work.

Harriet Klausner