The Bay at Midnight
Diane Chamberlain
Mira, Feb 2005, $19.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0778321460

In Westfield, Abby Worley visits Julie Bauer explaining that her father Ethan was a childhood friend in Bay Head Shores, New Jersey, before the tragedy that linked their families forever forty-one years ago. Julie remembers Ethan, but had a crush on his older brother Ned, who was her older sister Isabel's boyfriend. Abby further explains that her Uncle Ned recently died from cirrhosis after a lifetime of drinking to forget the homicide. He left behind a note for the Point Pleasant Police Department in which he insisted that the wrong person paid for Isabel's murder.

Julie wants to ignore this revelation since the convicted killer George Lewis died in prison five years ago. However, she always felt that George was innocent. She knows that the murder colored her world to the point of overprotecting her seventeen-year-old daughter, Shannon, who now plans to move to her father's home, having recently graduated from high school. Even her relationships with her mother and her younger sister are tainted by the trauma. Unable to resist, Julie begins making inquiries into what really happened over four decades ago that destroyed more than just a teenager.

This is an exciting, amateur sleuth, family drama that stars a fabulous ensemble cast including deceased people. The storyline switches first person accounts though Julie is the prime narrator. That provides insight into various characters, but also makes for difficulty in following the plot as three families are interwoven by the homicide. Still, Diane Chamberlain provides a tense, engaging thriller that her fans will appreciate, but to fully cherish the tale, concentration is needed to keep track.

Harriet Klausner