Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Goodbye, She Lied-Russ Hall

Goodbye, She Lied
Russ Hall
Five Star, Nov 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594146022

In Fearing, Texas Boose Hargate asks septuagenarian Esbeth Walters to uncover the identity of the con artists who bilked his elderly momma; she was tossed out of the posh retirement home due to a lack of funds.

Adele Kilgore does not need the insurance money nor cares about it, but has a need to know who killed her husband Vance. The police said it was suicide, but he was obviously bound and tortured before driving himself to his death. She turns to Esbeth to uncover the truth. Esbeth receives help from retired forensic pathologist Gardner Burke even as two hitmen search for the same con artists that Esbeth seeks. As everyone converges at Boose’s booby trapped isolated cabin, law enforcement remains several steps behind Esbeth and her adversaries.

Although everything ties together too perfectly like a mathematical equation, fans will enjoy the senior citizenry amateur sleuth as Gardner the retired pro assists former math teacher Esbeth on her investigations. Her work on both cases is fun to follow as she finds the sum of the parts (her two cases, a tie in serial killing, and a previous con) equals the whole mystery.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: