Charlotte Carter, Trip Wire

Trip Wire

Charlotte Carter

One World, Apr 2005, $12.95, 192 pp.

ISBN: 0345447697

In Chicago, Cassandra Perry cherishes her Aunt Ivy and Uncle Woody for taking her in almost ten years ago when her grandmother who raised her without love died. By 1968, the twenty-year-old Cassandra is mortified by the world she sees. Her cousin was murdered in front of her, assassinations have struck down two leaders, and recently the riots at the Democratic Convention have made her reconsider her values. When fellow Afro-American Wilt Mobley asks her to move into a hippie commune, she does, much to the chagrin of her loving relatives.

Someone murders Wilt and his white girlfriend Mia Boone. Chicago Police Detective James Norris snidely questions commune members, refusing to look elsewhere for a culprit. He hones in on the only other non-white member Sandy as the commune calls Cassandra, insisting that she was jealous sharing a hunky black man with a white. Accompanied by Ivy and Woody, Cassandra begins her own inquiries, knowing the police will either blame her or ignore the double homicides, but the trio is not prepared for the politicians that are willing to kill to stop her investigation.

This engrossing historical fiction is a terrific look back to 1968, a year of disenchantment through the eyes of a former idealist turn lost soul. The storyline is fantastic as Cassandra wonders what's going on, especially when the cops' attitudes towards blacks and hippies (or worse if you belong to both) are loud and clear. The amateur sleuth elements start late and are fun to follow, but the heart and soul of Charlotte Carter's TRIP WIRE is Christmas 1968 in a Chicago where no joy to the world exists.

Harriet Klausner