Review: Death Duties

This is the 8th book in the Port Silva series. Port Silva is a small fictional town on the North California Coast where Patience Smith runs a small detective agency known as Patience Smith Investigations. Her daughter Verity Mackellar who has recently moved in with her mother following a separation from her husband assists her in the business. Sylvie Mendina is an eight-year-old girl that Patience and Verity have taken into their household to raise after her mother died.

Verity is approached by Chris Larson, a woman two years her senior, and a friend during the summers when Verity, as well as Chris, had been summer visitors to Port Silva. Chris is back in Port Silva to settle her father’s estate. Andy Larson, Chris’ father, was a well-known and well-liked figure in Port Silva. As Chris tells her story Verity finds out that twenty-eight years ago Chris’ Grandfather Edgar Larson had been accused of child molestation involving a small girl that had been murdered. Although there was nothing proved against Mr. Larson the rumors and shuns that developed from those accusations left Edgar Larson as a lonely old man who eventually committed suicide. The accusations came from two anonymous phone calls. After Mr. Larson’s suicide there was another attempt on a child who got away and the person involved was a convicted child molester.

Chris wants Patience Smith, Investigations to work on this case and clear her grandfather’s name. As soon as the investigation begins the town begins to get stirred up and threatening phone calls are made to Patience and Verity, Verity loses her part time job, and most people in the town feel that the matter is best left alone.

Hank Svoboda of the Port Silva police is involved in a relationship with Patience and Detective John Herbert is quite interested in Verity so the police lend a hand along the way with the investigation.

Patience had been hired by an elderly lady to check out her niece that had come to live with her. She was alone and although she welcomed the niece she also was fearful of being taken in if her niece had some unsavory past. The client mentioned to Patience that she had a friend who had taken in a niece and then the niece disappeared years ago leaving only a short note with no real explanation for her departure. Patience contacted this friend and became involved in trying to discover what had happened to the niece years ago. This was in the same time frame as the case Verity had accepted regarding the anonymous tips accusing Edgar Larson of child molestation.

All of these separate items are all drawn together revealing the answers to many questions from the past.

I very much enjoyed this book. Had I read the previous books I would have had a better understanding of the background of the characters. I do intend to try and locate the earlier books, as I would very much like to read them.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM

Book Review: Death Duties