Monday, April 18, 2011

Jericho Cay-Kathryn R. Wall

Jericho Cay
Kathryn R. Wall
Minotaur, Apr 26 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312601850

In South Carolina just after Hurricane Kitty caused plenty of damage to the state, egomaniacal true crime author Winston Wolfe hires private investigator Bay Tanner to look into the two years old cold case involving the disappearance of reclusive millionaire Morgan Tyler Bell. Wolfe's theory is that Bell is alive and using the guise of his personal assistant Terry Gerard. The writer explains that Gerard vanished when Bell allegedly disappeared off Jericho Cay, a private island near Hilton Head.

Bay, her husband former deputy sheriff Red and Winston travel to Bell’s Jericho Cay. There apparently his Jamaican housekeeper Anjanette Freeman committed suicide just before her employer and his assistant vanished. Wolfe abandons Bay and Red on Jericho Cay, but he also disappears after making a strange call to her.

The latest Bay Tanner mystery (see Canaan's Gate) is a terrific twisting thriller that has the audience and the lead couple wondering what is going on and why. The super story line grips the reader with the need to know as Kathryn R. Wall provides a strong puzzler as nothing is quite like it seems. It feels like a chess game in which the Tanner pair has no idea who the grandmaster playing them is.

Harriet Klausner

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