Calling the Dead
Marilyn Meredith
Mundania, 2006, $11.00
ISBN: 1594263523

In Bear Creek, California, Felicity Pence calls Pastor Hutchinson because her spouse Arthur is badly ill. Hutch, his wife Deputy Sheriff Tempe Crabtree and her son form her first marriage eighteen years old Blair arrive at the Pence home. However, Arthur is dead.

Two teens report finding a body in a nearby river; Tempe investigates and finds Doreen Felton dead. The teens give a fake name and leaves before the detectives Richards and Morison arrive. They assume that Doreen's lover Jimmy Patton killed her.

Hutch believes that Felicity killed Arthur so he asks Tempe to investigate though her superior Sergeant Guthrie warns her to stay out of the investigations. Tempe learns that Felicity has had two previous husbands die and soon begins to uncover evidence to support Hutch's contention. She also seeks to prove that Doreen committed suicide though the detectives have two suspects; the only seemingly means to learn what really happened is a paranormal interview of the deceased, which in of itself would never hold up in court.

The latest Crabtree police procedural (see Judgment Fire) is a excellent police procedural in which the hero investigates two cases that could cost her job even if she proves to be right. Ironically, in the Arthur scenario, Tempe tries to prove murder when natural cause has been ruled; in the Doreen inquiry, she tries to prove suicide when murder is the official position. Readers will enjoy this delightful investigative mystery starring an intrepid heroine seeking justice for the dead and the living.

Harriet Klausner