CAN’T NEVER TELL

A small-town lawyer follows the money and finds a murderer.

Returning to her roots in Dacus, S.C., lawyer Avery Andrews never imagines it will become a hotbed of murder. When she takes her niece Emma to a local carnival, they discover a mummified corpse in the fright house. Next day they join a family picnic, where Rinda Reimann, a newly returned Dacus native, takes a fatal plunge from Bow Falls. Aside from Avery’s relatives, the picnickers are mostly colleagues of her brother-in-law, a college professor. It turns out Rinda was having an affair with her former high-school squeeze. Her husband Rog, the proverbial absent-minded professor, immediately falls prey to a pushy female colleague who seems indecently eager for him to get his hands on Rinda’s insurance money. Avery’s only pleasant experience is her meeting and date with charming Professor Spencer Munn, who has a lucrative sideline in money management. The carnies hire Avery to discover the identity of their mummy, and Rog, seemingly unaware that he’s suspect No. 1, asks for help getting his affairs in order. After endless complications and conversations, a blackberry bramble provides a clue that closes the case.

Enough Southern eccentrics to satisfy the most devoted fans of Avery (Hush My Mouth, 2008, etc.), but this time the plot is straightforward and not obscured by too much kitsch.