Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Little Death In Dixie-Lisa Turner

A Little Death In Dixie
Lisa Turner
Belle Books, Jun 4 2010, $15.95
www.bellebooks.com
ISBN: 9781935661900

Mercy Snow has left Atlanta to return home to family in Memphis. She arrives at the family home, but no one except the collie and a horde of teddy bears greet her; her estranged socialite sister Sophia apparently has vanished. Unsurprisingly her Mother is not there to greet her either.

Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Detective Billy Able works with his partner legendary Lou Nevers on a routine day of death and near suicide until Criminal Court Judge Buck Overton asks the latter to investigate a missing woman’s case. His stepdaughter Sophia vanished sixteen hours ago. Complicating the case is that Billy and Sophia were an entry until she dumped him. While Lou acts strange, Billy and Mercy make inquiries unaware of the corruption at highest level of local society.

This is an engaging Memphis police procedural starring a fascinating cop who’s emotionally tied to the inquiry and a wonderful sister considered a loser by her family. The story line rotates perspective, which pays dividends once the plot moves into first gear (several chapters into the tale). In some ways more of an extended family drama with a few degrees of separation, fans will enjoy Lisa Turner’s Memphis Blues.

Harriet Klausner

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