Death and the Walking Stick (A Trudy Roundtree Mystery)

Linda Berry's DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK is a light enjoyable small town mystery read with a fun progressive female sleuth that will bring laughs along with the fun puzzle of the murder mystery itself. No one in the small town of Ogeechee, Georgia likes Althea Boatright! Epitaphs like turkey buzzard are more than fitting. The final straw finally came. With her aging eyesight and her little dog tangled at her feet causing a distraction, the cantankerous, annoying Althea runs down a pedestrian with her car. Her latest escapade finally allows police officer Trudy Roundtree to confiscate Althea's license. This should make the whole town relieved but instead, Althea turns up dead in her own home. Could this be an accident? Lulu, Martha and Ellen think Althea was murdered when a walking stick is discovered at the scene --- a walking stick that does not belong to Althea. Trudy and the bridge club ladies investigate as more and more secrets of Althea's life are uncovered, secrets that might have provoked murder. In DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK, Linda Berry mixes a the small town southern atmosphere with a progressive, feminist sleuth who has both compassion and humor. Trudy Roundtree captures the southern way of life with a sense of gentleness in her vision of others even as she remains partially separate. Trudy Roundtree makes fun of people and the town yet her humor is never mean but born from a love of Ogeechee and its residents. Rather than taking offense, Southern readers are more likely to smile and relocated Southerners, like myself, are likely to feel a tad homesick. The mystery itself is a fun, light read with some surprises as small town gossip and small town newspaper stories come to the surface, sometimes in conflict. DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK delves into the past and past secrets, creating a multi-dimensional history for her characters and the setting. Although not a cold case mystery like her DEATH AND THE ICEBOX, DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK will appeal to fans of cold case mysteries. Linda Berry's DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK is a wonderful folksy light mystery read laced with gentle humor.

There isn't much violent crime in the Georgia town Ogeechee (pop 3,000) so when octogenarian Althea Boatright runs over Charles Sykes of Jesup, Georgia the police think it is an accident due to poor eyesight, poor motor coordination and her dog sleeping on the gas pedal. They yank her license but don't put her in jail. A few days later Althea is found dead in her home; chief of police Henry Huckabee concludes she fell and hit her head against the bathtub. One of Althea's friends feels that she was murdered because the walking stick she always used was nowhere near her body and the one in the house was not owned by the deceased. Police officer Trudy Roundtree listens to the women, especially her boss's mother and concludes they might be right. Althea was not on good terms with her son and daughter-in-law who feel they were cheated in his father's will because he left everything to his wife. Further investigation finds that the car accident might have been homicide; to find the killer requires setting a dangerous trap. Linda Berry has written a charming down home cozy that displays life in a small southern town. Trudy is a dedicated police officer who protects and serves the community but listens to the theory put forth by Althea's friends that she was murdered. When she believes they have a point, she convinces her boss to let her investigate and finds evidence to support their claims. DEATH AND THE WALKING STICK showcases the talent of the author whose tale rivals the best of superstars like Leslie Glass and Susan Wittig Albert. Harriet Klausner