Flying Shoes

This story is advertised as a mystery, reopening a thirty-year-old unsolved murder case, but mystery is a very small part of the story. Debra Winger has an almost insurmountable task to keep listener interest. The story centers on unappealing Mary Bird and her relationships and interactions with other less-than-inviting characters, past and present. Winger uses a whiney voice, which is appropriate for Mary Bird's character but annoying to listen to. Rather than a mystery about the reopening and solving of a very cold case, the novel turns out to be a character study of unattractive individuals, written in a meandering style and delivered in an irritating voice. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

March 10, 2014
Howorth’s debut is a character-driven novel about family and friendship. Mississippian Mary Byrd Thornton is an ordinary person with one distinction: 40 years ago, her young stepbrother was murdered, and the killer was never found. One day she receives a call from a detective specializing in cold cases who tells her about new developments in the investigation and asks Mary Byrd to return to Richmond, Va., her childhood home, so her whole family can meet with him together in hopes of achieving “closure.” Mary Byrd is a winsome character, and the novel revolves around her, but other characters hold similar charms. Teever Barr is a local quasi-homeless Vietnam vet who bumbles through life, yet manages to land on his feet. Hubard Mann Valentine Jr. is the gay heir to a chicken empire. And Jack Ernest is a rakish ne’er-do-well who has an on-again, off-again relationship with Mary Byrd. Howorth paints her characters with a colorful palette and sketches the details of daily life with a sure hand. The murder case remains in the background throughout most of the novel; the story is decidedly more of a character study than a page-turning thriller, but Howorth’s characters are well worth getting to know.