"fantastic amateur sleuth"
Psychologist Dr. Rebecca Butterman is woken up in the
middle of the night by her minister of the Shoreline
Congregational Church. He asks her to come over to the
emergency medical clinic off exit 59. Dr. Meigs takes the
phone from him and explains that the minister was with
parishioner Lacy Bailes when she died. He refuses to talk
to the detective unless Rebecca is with him. When she
arrives at the clinic, the minister is more interested in
having Rebecca on the committee to find a new pastor than
he is of being a murder suspect because he doesn't
believes the victim who was a good person was poisoned
like the doctor suspects.. Rebecca agrees to serve on the committee, but finds the
group is not even close to a selection. There are two
candidates: a woman from out of town and Reverend Wesley's
choice Paul a divinity student graduate who the pastor
demands they choose immediately. Paul and Rebecca fall
down a flight of stairs that have been greased by Crisco.
This adds credence to the theory that Lacy was poisoned.
That conclusion is solidified when someone fires a bullet
that whizzes past Rebecca when she is near her front
door. She believes someone fears that her questions are
leading her to identifying the killer of Lacy, but instead
of taking the safe "smart" road, she intensifies her
investigation. Rebecca Isleib has written a fantastic amateur sleuth tale
in which it seems everyone except the detective and the
heroine's sister and niece have something to conceal and
thus push personal agendas to guard against revealing
their secrets. Although some will question why a
psychologist would turn to sleuthing especially of a
homicide (besides needing it for the plot), the
protagonist is ideal for the job as she is an expert on
human nature and will need her reading of people skills to
determine who are the most likely suspects. Sub-genre
fans will enjoy accompanying Dr. Butterman has she makes
her inquires. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 2, 2007
SummaryThe holidays have arrived in postcard-perfect Guilford, CT,
but someone's taking the joy out of the season...
Psychologist/advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman gets a
call in the middle of night from the minister at her church.
He's in custody after going to a fellow parishioner's home
and finding her dead. The murdered matron was the leader of
a search committee charged with finding a new assistant
pastor after the previous assistant left in a rush. The
minister begs Rebecca to intervene. She learns that the
committee was divided—has someone tried to eliminate
the competition? Rebecca puts her analytical skills to work
to do her own search—for a killer—all while
resisting the urge to break the seventh commandment with a
very married detective, and praying she's not the next victim.
| 
