Mother of the Bride

In two months, Amanda West is to be married and all she wants from her mother Molly, a director of a meal delivery program in Ohio, is to arrange for a Civil War reenactment ceremony. At the same time, the local sheriff adds pressure on Molly and her spouse Ken when he asks them to hide Amanda's best friend Bonnie from her abusive husband, who has escaped from prison. Bonnie goes into the tunnels underneath her mother's pre-Civil War mansion and discovers a skeleton. Though most people believe it is the remains of a long forgotten Union soldier, some folks wonder if murder might have occurred more recently. With the reenactment around the corner, Molly tries to solve the mystery of the bones to insure that no other victims surface. MOTHER OF THE BRIDE, the latest entry in the Molly West series, is an intriguing book because of Patricia Tichenor Westfall's ability to bring alive Appalachian Ohio in both the present and the past eras. The lead character and the support cast add much charm to the story line. The mystery is good though not quite on a level of the sub-plots that add so much authenticity to the novel. Anyone who enjoys an amateur sleuth in a unique setting will want to read this book and Molly's previous story, FOWL PLAY because both are quite entertaining.Harriet Klausner