Out Comes the Evil

October 19, 2015
At the start of Cameron’s captivating sequel to Folly, widow Pam Gibbon, “a fit, attractive, sexual woman,” goes looking late one night for a lover of hers, Harry Stroud, at Ebring Manor, a ruined 14th-century house, in the quaint Cotswold village of Folly-on-Weir. Pam meets a bad end, but days pass before Alex Duggins, the owner of the Black Dog pub, and her handsome boyfriend, veterinarian Tony Harrison, discover Pam’s dismembered body at the bottom of a well near the ruined manor house. At the risk of irritating the local police, Alex investigates. Tony does his best to keep Alex safe, though the impetuous, unpredictable Alex has a tendency to get into tight fixes, such as the time she gets locked inside Harry’s house while doing some snooping. Various assaults and a second murder raise the stakes. An appealing heroine and an atmospheric setting make this romantic mystery a winner. Agent: Liza Dawson, Liza Dawson Associates.

October 15, 2015
Two friends try to turn small-town gossip into a reasonable murder investigation when they discover a body and some clues that spur them on. Veterinarian Tony Harrison is a nice guy. At least, that's what his closest friend, Alex Duggins, reassures him when she tries to understand why Tony doesn't stop on seeing a woman crouched at the side of the road in his small town of Folly-on-Weir. Alex helps Tony re-enact the scene to make sure that what he's seen isn't a figment of his imagination, and that's when things begin to get creepy. First they stumble on an abandoned pair of binoculars as they approach the ruins of the building nearest the re-enactment, the deserted Ebring Manor. Then they find evidence of a body in a well on the property. Both suspect that the body is that of Pamela Gibbons, who's recently disappeared without a trace. When the two bring talk of the death back to The Black Dog, the tavern Alex manages, the town swirls with rumors about who could have done Pamela in. The public suspect No. 1 is Harry Stroud, a wealthy eccentric who happens to be a childhood acquaintance of Alex. Because of her connection to Harry, Alex feels compelled to learn more about his relationship with Pamela, even if it brings her into danger's way. Tony just wants to keep Alex safe and find out if their friendship is finally becoming something more. Many characters but little character development, and the story luxuriates in gruesome details. Though Cameron (Second to None, 2012, etc.) obviously loves her characters, she assumes the reader's interest rather than earns it.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2015
After a painful divorce and the death of her baby, Alex Duggins moved back home to Folly-on-Weir, a picturesque village in the Cotswolds, where she became involved in a grisly murder (Folly, 2015). Figuring the chances of murder striking her tiny village twice are extremely remote (apparently she's not a cozy reader), Alex is completely unprepared when a local woman is found dead in horrendous circumstances. Furious at the death and that Folly's peace should be disrupted again, Alex is determined to find the killer, despite the police warning that she should stay out of the case. With the help of her sometime boyfriend, veterinarian Tony Harrison, she begins investigating, and as more violence occurs, she senses she's getting close to an increasingly desperate killer. A feisty heroine, plenty of eerie suspense, and unusual twists make this village cozy thoroughly engaging.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)