Book Review: Don't Tell a Soul

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Don't Tell a Soul     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
S. K. McClafferty
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance   Romantic Suspense
Zebra, Jan 2003, $5.99, 352 pp.

Child advocate lawyer Claire Sumner believes her father Jimmy did not kill her best friend Jean Broussard ten years ago even if the evidence and his confession overwhelmingly prove otherwise. With about a month left before the state executes Jimmy, Claire finds new hope to prove his innocence. Someone murdered a young teen in Acadia Parish, Louisiana with what seems to be the same modus operendi used in the Broussard homicide, but this time Jimmy has an airtight alibi as a death row inmate.

Claire returns to Acadia Parish seeking the truth. Most of the locals see the execution as closure and want Claire to leave. Desperate, Claire asks former reporter and now investigator Fegan Broussard to help her though it is his sister who her father was convicted of murdering. Initially refusing, Fegan begins to change his mind that the killer sits on death row. As he and Claire fall in love while making inquiries, someone tries to kill both of them.

S.K. McClafferty provides an exciting modern day Cajun West Side Story romantic suspense starring two likable lead characters with a shared burden that makes them an unlikely couple. The story line hooks the audience as they wonder why Claire believes her father is innocent when Jimmy admits he killed her friend and if he did not commit the murder why did he say he did? These questions keep fans in suspense and continue to read until the audience learns the truth about what happened in Arcadia Parish, Louisiana a decade ago.

Harriet Klausner

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