Death Duties.

Death Duties

Janet LaPierre

Perseverance Press

PO Box 2790, McKinleyville, CA 95519

ISBN: 188028474X $13.95

Janet LaPierre is a prolific mystery writer who has garnered nominations for the Shamus Award, the Anthony, and the Macavity awards as well as critical acclaim from readers and peers. LaPierre lives in Berkeley, and wanders around several counties for research with her trailer, laptop, and two dogs.

Cold cases are often the most challenging, and Patience and Verity Mackellar, Private Investigators, take on a thirty- year old case in Port Silva when Edgar Larson's granddaughter asks them to investigate child molestation charges that Christina Larson feels sure her grandfather was innocent of. Chris has made a promise to her father on his deathbed, and she means to carry through. Unfortunately, Edgar committed suicide a few months after the charges were filed. One fact is plain. There were two anonymous calls to the police making the charges...one from a female and one from a male. As Patience and Verity investigate, it becomes clear that someone in town doesn't want the investigation. When a woman Verity questions turns up dead of a gunshot wound in her pickup, the plot thickens and tongues wag:

"'Then this morning I heard on the local news that they found a Port Silva woman dead in her pickup truck somewhere upcoast. After that a friend called to say she heard it was Tessa Finch and she's been raped and beaten to death.'

Patience folded the napkin over the Danish and pushed it away.

'Marilyn, she died from a gunshot wound. The police suspect suicide but they won't know for sure until there's been further investigation and a postmortem.'"

LaPierre is especially good at tying the lush locale into her tale. The coastal area of California boasts everything from farms to woods and abandoned mines, not to mention the local color of the people. Patience and Verity are both single women who have taken in a precocious eight year old named Silvie, and then a dog named Zak. Their connection with two of Port Silva's police officers create a romantic touch, as well as providing enough police procedural to embellish the tale. The combination of characters, plot, and setting gives spooky authenticity to the family conflicts which surround this mystery. LaPierre holds the reader ransom from the first page until all facets of the tale have been laid out like rose petals. This is a great tale, and LaPierre deserves her exalted position as one of the best writers around.