SHADOW BEHIND THE CURTAIN

by Velda Johnston ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1985

Once again, as in The Stone Maiden and others, a Johnston heroine--successful, affluent--confronts the hidden past: this time it's Deborah Channing, whose upper-class Manhattan life is catapulted into misery when her fond mother and rich stepfather both die in a short time span. Furthermore, Deborah accidentally discovers that her natural father is serving a life sentence in a New Mexico jail for the murder of eight-year-old Daisy McCabe! So, with marriage to socialite Greg Vanlieden hanging in the balance, Deborah sets out for the scene of the bygone crime (also her own birthplace), determined to prove her father's innocence. Her quest raises hackles all over Prosperity, New Mexico, of course. The acting Police Chief, ruggedly handsome Ben Farrel (son of the case's original investigator), wants Deborah to leave town. So does her father (whom she visits in prison). But Deborah persists--talking to Daisy's alcoholic mother, to members of the farming sect that raised her own mother, to town millionaire Lawrence Gainsworth (her father's longtime supporter), and to Gainsworth's shy, sly painter-daughter Rachel. And though deduction has nothing to do with uncovering the true murderer, this is one of Johnston's better efforts--with a fairly straightforward narrative, a minimum of romantic twaddle, and a mildly involving story. . . right up to the predictable happy endings for all the good folk.

Pub Date: April 1, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION