Cause For Murder
Betty Sullivan La Pierre
Synergerebooks
Mystery
electronic or print
290 pages
small town U.S.A.
present day
available now
ISBN: 1419607065
Burke Parker was a loudmouthed drunk. He was both physically and sexually abusive to his family. Not many tears where shed when he was found dead in the sleazy hotel room he called home. However, when preliminary autopsy results lean towards poison as the cause of death his wife, Lily, his daughter, Maryann and Mudak, her biological father become prime suspects in his death.
Lily is a hardworking woman who found herself shunned by most people in town after Burke went around announcing to everyone that she had an affair with an Indian and that his daughter is not really his. Maryann is a confused and bitter young lady who does not understand why her mother stayed with a man who abused them both, or how she can be expected to love Mudak, the man she feels abandoned her and her mother to Burke Parker's abuse.
Private Investigator Hawkman finds ample reasons for all of the suspects to want Burke dead, all he has to do is follow the leads and determine if one or all of them is a murderer. Hawkman's son, Sam, has volunteered to help fix up the Parker's home providing many opportunities to observe the suspects and search for clues, but it may also have him spending a lot of time with a killer.
I really enjoyed this book although it is not what I would normally think of as a Mystery. The death of Burke Parker took a backseat in my mind as the story of his family was revealed. I found myself totally engrossed in this book. Ms. La Pierre does a marvelous job of bringing the characters to life. I definitely want to know what happens to them next. The only character I did not feel an intimate connection with is Hawkman, and to be fair to Ms. La Pierre I am sure his story has been covered much more thoroughly in one of the preceding six books in this series.
If you are looking for a novel that will touch your emotional side as well as have you looking for clues then "Cause for Murder" is the book for you.
