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THE BISHOP BURNED THE LADY

Name: THE BISHOP BURNED THE LADY
Author: Bill Percy
ISBN: 978-1-68433-014-0

by Bill Percy ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2018

New and recurring characters alike reinforce this solid mystery series installment.

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The scorched remains of a body in the woods leads a Montana deputy to a sex-trafficking cult in this thriller.

Residents of Monastery Valley spent much of August battling wildfires. So they quickly notice smoke coming from the forest during the community’s Labor Day fireworks show. Looking into the matter, Deputy Andi Pelton finds a smoldering cabin. The human bones among the rubble could be the result of an accident, but clues found at the scene later upgrade the case to murder. Around the same time, Andi’s psychologist boyfriend, Ed Northrup, sees a female patient who displays signs of multiple personalities and cryptically tells him, “Bishop burned the lady in the fire.” Instead of the woman returning for treatment, Ed receives an anonymous note implying she’s been kidnapped. Ritual aspects to the murder point to a cult’s involvement. So Ed, who’s treated cult survivors, joins the investigation. It’s soon apparent that the potential cult and Ed’s enigmatic patient are somehow tied to sex trafficking. Ed and Andi’s personal lives are already in disarray, as she remains reluctant to accept his marriage proposal. And the case isn’t making things any easier, particularly after an unauthorized cleanup of the crime scene and the inexplicable disappearance of evidence. As in earlier novels in Percy’s (Nobody’s Safe Here, 2016, etc.) series, dynamic characters are immersed in fully engaging melodrama. In this third installment, Andi and Ed’s relationship is complicated by her attraction to a deputy and the psychologist’s unconcealed jealousy. Likewise, Ed’s 17-year-old adopted daughter, Grace, is anticipating losing her virginity during Homecoming festivities. The mystery is initially riveting, especially the intermittent perspectives from the ambiguous but unsettling baddies. But the latter half loses a bit of steam: Readers will likely foresee a plot turn well before Andi does. Still, the author’s confident writing turns seemingly mundane scenes into memorable moments, as when Ed’s new truck horn at a parade, “which could’ve served a tug boat in a night hurricane,” inadvertently silences the cheering crowd.

New and recurring characters alike reinforce this solid mystery series installment.

Pub Date: April 12, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68433-014-0

Page Count: 340

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Review Posted Online: May 8, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.