Book Review: Cyanide Wells

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Cyanide Wells     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Marcia Muller
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Mysterious Press/Time Warner; June 2003; 292pp

Fourteen years ago, Gwen Lindstrom drove away from her pending divorce and her husband and disappeared - completely. A sheriff in Wyoming, where Gwen's abandoned car is found, wants her husband, Matthew, prosecuted for murder; but without a body and only circumstantial evidence there isn't enough to bring it to trial. When his business and reputation are destroyed by innuendo and he can't even depend on his family, Matthew Lindstrom leaves and eventually begins to put down roots in Vancouver, Canada.

Out of the blue, he receives a phone call that informs him that his ex-wife is alive and well and living in California; in a place called Cyanide Wells, to be exact. Matthew wants answers and revenge, in either order, and heads for a showdown with Gwen. By the time he arrives in Cyanide Wells, Matthew has calmed down somewhat and decides to find out more about what is going on before he confronts Gwen. And then she disappears again; leaving him again as a suspect.

Marcia Muller takes us once again to her fictional Soledad County in California, with a new cast of characters and a few cameo appearances from "Point Deception". Muller explores small town politics and prejudices, while weaving a plot dark and deceptive with a main character always "off stage". Told from the points of view of the two people frantically searching for Gwen, Muller uses the two viewpoints to round out the characters of Matthew and Carly [owner of the local newspaper and Gwen's current partner] and the character of Gwen/Ardis as seen through their eyes. The plot twists like Hwy 1 and the forest paths in Soledad County while the search goes on for Gwen. When the bodies begin dropping and the threats heat up, Matt and Carly are in more danger than they can handle in a town that doesn't want its secrets to see the light of day. Another winner for both Muller and her readers!

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