A Certain Retribution: A Merrick
McKnight Novel
Michael
Lister
Pulpwood, Nov 28 2014, $16.99
ISBN
9781888146455
Merrick McKnight lost his journalist position at a Florida
Panhandle newspaper due to downsizing, and his wife and child due to a car
accident. Living in Wewathitchka, Florida
he runs into Reggie Summers at the Tiki Grill; she attended Wewa High School
like he did. Though attracted to each
other, Reggie doubts a reporter like Merrick would want a too big country-fried
trashy single mom raising a teenage football player. At Tucks, Merrick and Reggie intervene when
Deputy Donnie Ray threatens Dahl Rogers.
As Rogers flees the scene, Reggie tasers nasty Donnie Ray.
Not long afterward Gulf County Sheriff Robin Wilson asks Merrick
questions re Dahl, who was killed soon after his last call to Merrick though
the reporter failed to answer his phone.
Insisting his innocence though the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement investigates him and his department for
alleged wrongdoings, Wilson wants Merrick to cover the inquiry offering full
access. At the same time, using the nuts
test Reggie checks on whether Donnie Ray killed his former sheriff department’s
peer. Soon someone kills more cops.
As Prison Chaplain John Jordan (see
Blood Sacrifice) and WWII detective Jimmy "Soldier" Riley Series (see
The Big Hello) take respites, the second McKnight Panhandle mystery (see
Thunder Beach) is a twisting dark investigative thriller. Adding fun to the mix is Michael Lister
entering the Corner Café. Although the
sex distracts from the grim inquiries, the gender role switching enhances an overall
exhilarating regional whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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