Fortunes of the Dead

I haven't found a book written by this author that I haven't fallen in love with. Her characters are real and very relatable to reallife. From the first page to the last you never loose intrest and the author leaves you wanting more.

I have been reading Lynn Hightower since 1993. Being from Lexington, Kentucky, and living in the Chevy Chase area, I identify very easily with her stories. Her early novels with the sci-fi mystery genre were fun to read. Lynn has grown quite a bit as a writer since then. As she states in "Fortunes of the Dead", "...I admit I saw things in black and white, with good guys and bad guys and no shades of gray.", no "shades of gray" in this novel. She has always paid great attention to detail in her stories, with a woman's eye for color and texture. Scenes are not so much written for the reader as painted in accurate 3D perspective. Now, she is really applying this quality to her characters. She is breathing life into them. Always the story teller, Lynn easily draws her readers into her novels. I have really enjoyed her work over the years and enthusiastically encourage others to also enjoy her talent. Kentucky should be proud.

Three things I look for in a mystery. 1. Good writing, 2. unique plot, 3. interesting characters. This has all three. This was a stay up late to finish book. Looking forward to her next.

Hightower's writing, to me, is best described as "unflinching." She doesn't sugar coat things, she doesn't "make nice" with her characters or her books. I really like that about her books. From the dysfunctional family in High Water (one of my favorite books of 2002) to the malfunctioning Lena Padgett and her relationships in Fortunes of the Dead, Hightower never insults my intelligence. She doesn't blink in the face of domestic violence and its reality. She doesn't spare me details of someone's sick behavior -- but she doesn't lovingly linger over any of it either. Hightower is one of my top authors, and Fortunes of the Dead is one of her best books.