A HOMECOMING FOR MURDER
by John Armistead
Another deep-roots homicide for Sheriff Grover Bramlett of Mississippi's Chakchiuma County (A Legacy of Vengeance, 1994). The victim this time is Sheffield High School teacher Jesse Bondreaux, whom somebody annihilates by shooting him and shoving him and his car over a convenient hill. Unfortunately, though, both neighborhood vagrant Gilly Bitzer and Bramlett's 12-year-old grandson, Marcellus Collier, are on the scene to become inconvenient witnesses. As Bramlett makes repeated rounds among Bondreaux's students and colleaguesrepeated mainly because everybody involved feeds him a lot of ``chicken crap'' about the persistent rumors that Bondreaux was selling drugs, sleeping with underaged students, and videotaping his favorite sessionsthe straight-shooting killer waylays Gilly, the high-priced lawyer who bails him out of protective custody, and a student who knows more than she ought to. It looks like Marcellus will be next, unless his Paw-Paw can trace the shadowy figure from Bondreaux's past who had the best reason of all to kill him.... Low-concept mystery-mongering mainly for fans of decent, overworked Bramlettand for Mississippi specialists.