Book Review: Dark Coulee

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Dark Coulee     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Mary Logue
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character
Series: Claire Watkins # 2
Walker, Nov 2000, $23.95, 240 pp.

Claire and her daughter Meg have known much sorrow in recent years. A drug lord killed her spouse. Later on, she learned her partner and lover was the murderer. She killed him in self-defense, but never revealed his sordid past to anyone. Her lie of omission eats at Claire, especially since she is seeing pheasant farmer Rich Haggard, a man she dearly loves.

Rich and Claire are enjoying a pleasant evening together in Little Rock, attending a street dance, when someone knifes Jed Spitzler with his two children nearby. Claire changes from being on a date to a deputy sheriff taking care of the crime scene and trying to save Jed’s life. He dies at the hospital, leaving Claire with a homicide investigation to undertake. As Claire digs into the case, she realizes the roots of the motive lies in the past that the Spitzler family refuses to divulge to her.

Mary Logue has simultaneously written a powerful family drama with a strong mystery. Ms. Logue exquisitely develops both subplots with neither shortchanged and ultimately they merge into a dramatic climax. This is a story about people and why they do things that is often ugly. The novel is also about life in a tiny town (population under 400) where everyone knows everyone on a first name basis. DARK COULEE uses the who-done-it to blend the present with the past, but it is Ms. Logue’s literary abilities that turns this book into a sure shot winner for anyone who relishes a superior family-driven mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner