SOMEBODY'S DEAD IN SNELLVILLE

Sometime sleuth Sheila Travis (Murder on Peachtree Street, 1991, etc.), widowed 18 months and working in Atlanta, is a neighbor of wimpy Sara Sims Tait, young member of a multigenerational, mostly redneck, singularly unappealing clan. A rumor that the family farm, owned by tough old Grandma Sims, may be sold for millions appears to trigger a series of tragedies, starting with the murder of Sara's social-climbing mother Martha- -shot to death in her kitchen. Later, dim-witted Uncle Billy is found hanged in the barn, seemingly a suicide. Another death and lesser dire events are to follow before Sheila and her nosy Aunt Mary figure it all out. At that point, however, the weary reader—numbed by drearily complex family relationships, arch asides, and a relentless tide of domestic trivia—will be past caring.