HOG WILD

Murder and mayhem, served up with Carolina barbecue and hush puppies.

The current hot news story in sleepy Dacus, S.C., where Avery Andrews (Done Gone Wrong, 2005, etc.) practices law, is a search for a runaway pot-bellied pig. So it’s a step up when Maggy Avinger consults Avery to see what can be done about the enormous statue her late husband had ordered installed on his grave, an angel engraved with a poem accusing her of poisoning him. While Avery ponders the problem, she volunteers to help rescue native plants on a parcel of mountain property purchased by an unscrupulous developer. Working with her is Noah Lakefield, a suspiciously overqualified reporter for her father’s newspaper. Soon after one of the workers finds a body stuffed in a mineshaft, a local nurse and the developer—who both, like Avery, have been getting anonymous letters—succumb to poisoned chocolates. The killings, along with eco-terrorists’ attacks on the mountain development, threaten to make Dacus a hotspot of crime. Avery, whose eyes have been opened to local environmental problems by prickly Noah, hopes to derail the building project, find a solution for her client’s problem and solve the murders before she finds herself next on the death list.

The quirky characters, laden with southern charm, entrance in spite of the weak mystery.