Beverly Hills Voodoo
By L. F. Crawford
Hard Shell Word Factory
Mystery
213 pages
ISBN: 0-7699-3956-X
ISBN: 0-7599-3955-1
5 voodoo dolls
A decapitated body is found in a bed in a judge's home in Beverly Hills. The judge's wife is also missing.
Art Murry and his young partner, William Kidman, are the detectives in charge. Kidman is a new partner because Art's previous partner was the cause of his marriage's breakup, and recently married his ex-wife.
The woman's head soon is found at another mansion, and the victim is indeed the wife of the superior court judge. From the evidence Murry and Kidman gather, it appears that voodoo is involved, or someone making it look like a ritual voodoo murder. The police captain believes that is nonsense and is sure the judge is the killer, but Murry isn't so sure, though he considers that the judge could have done away with his wife out of jealousy. The judge was much older than his wife.
Another suspect is a woman, Lyselle, who worked in real estate with the victim, Julia. Both women are Haitians and Murry believes the women are friends or related and he pushes Lyselle for information, but the woman is adept and avoiding direct answers. There is also Lucien, owner of the vacant home in which Julie's head was found, a strange and interesting man, whom Murry also believes is involved in voodoo, as well as a young man, Nicholas, whom Julia once loved.
Murry and Kidman methodically go over evidence and talk with those involved, both feeling it is a creepy kind of investigation, and not quite able to reconcile themselves to the voodoo angle. More and more evidence seems to point in that direction, and the two detectives become deeply involved with the Haitian background and the voodoo religion in solving the case. They find roadblocks at almost every angle including a package with voodoo dolls on their doorstep warning them to back off.
The captain tells Murry if he doesn't find the killer in a few days, he is turning the investigation over to Murry's former partner and Murry will be back on the street issuing parking tickets. Murry is anxious to solve the crime, for more than the reason he doesn't want his old partner to get the credit. He doesn't want to see an innocent man railroaded, but at times the investigation seems to be more than he and Kidman can handle, but handle it they do.
I didn't think I'd like this story. The title turned me off, but one can see how wrong a person can be. Don't judge a book by its cover or its title.
Beverly Hills Voodoo is a many faceted story. There is a compelling, spine-tingling mystery, intrigue, a bit of history, a romance, and a fondness for those who work together, and though their idiosyncrasies sometimes drive a person up the wall, they care.
L. F. Crawford did a masterful job of portraying the various characters. Not one is a cardboard individual. All of their personalities come out beautifully. Her descriptive scenes set the stages for confrontations and moods to perfection. Ms. Crawford weaves the many threads of this tale into a wonderful, brilliant fabric. My only complaint is that at the very beginning of the book, the f-word is used too much. It wasn't necessary, but I suppose the author felt that today's readers expect those words. Once past the first few chapters, Ms. Crawford threw away the language garbage and the book flowed smoothly and brought to life an intriguing story. I recommend Beverly Hills Voodoo to anyone looking for a mystery with great characterization and a great plot. Ms. Crawford is to be commended for this spellbinding work
Jaye Dee Tyrack, Reviewer, Gotta Write Network
January 19, 2006
copyright Jaye Dee Tyrack & GWN
