The Grass Widow

November 4, 1996
In 1925, in Statler's Cross, Ga., so the story goes, a young woman dressed her toddler in his finest clothes, locked him in his room and hanged herself on a pecan tree in her yard. Ever since, she's haunted the small town. And now her grandson, a local minister, is found with a bullet through his head, and the sheriff has to peel off the layers of Southern gentility to find the reason. It's a solid mystery, but even more satisfying is the author's stellar telling. Holbrook, a former journalist and talented writer, beautifully depicts a small Southern town, its proud inhabitants and its secrets.

November 15, 1996
The legend of Linnie Cane, a young woman who hanged herself in 1925 on the pecan tree next to her house, is the ghost story that has been on everyone's lips for decades. Her reason for shortening her life has remained a mystery to her family and the small community of Statlers Cross, Georgia, ever since. With haunting quotes from residents heading each chapter, the novel begins with the violent death of Rev. Martin Cane, a descendant of Linnie. As the story unfolds, Sheriff Truitt unravels a tale of murder and dark family secrets involving abortion and abuse. In the middle of it all, historian Gale Grayson, a relative of Linnie who is seeking to gather information for her book on Southern women, is caught up in her own hunt to uncover the family secrets. Once readers get all the characters straight and learn who is related to whom, The Grass Widow is an entertaining if occasionally complex diversion. Well written and fast-moving, this tale from the author of A Far and Deadly Cry (Bantam, 1995) is recommended for large collections.--Shirley Gibson Coleman, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., Mich.