Life for a Life

Life for a Life by Lynda McDaniel    339 pages

 

In this first book in the Appalachian Mountain mystery series, readers are introduced to Della Kincaid and Abit.

 

Della has left Washington, D.C., looking for a new start. She spotted a for sale sign on a boarded up store as she took the long way back to D.C. after a week’s vacation in the Black Mountains. A former investigative reporter and newly divorced, Della was looking for a quiet, more predictable life.

 

At first, the local townspeople weren’t too keen on the new arrival, with the exception of Abit, a fifteen-year-old boy with an unspecified mental deficiency. His dad had taken him out of school because he was “a bit slow.” Now he just hangs around the house.

 

But when Della reopens the small grocery store, Abit begins to hang around, sitting in a rickety chair on the porch. Slowly, Della and Abit become friends. Della begins to offer him odd jobs around the store.

 

One afternoon, Della and her dog, Jake, go on a picnic where they discover a dead girl. Enter the sheriff who is stereotypical of all small town sheriffs. When a suicide note is found in the girl’s purse, the sheriff considers it an open-and-closed case of suicide.

 

Della’s reporter’s instinct kicks in, and she begins her own investigation. She calls on old friends back in D. C. and even enlists the help of her now-unemployed ex-husband.

 

The story takes place in the late 1980s, making it a combination historical mystery and cozy-bordering-on procedural mystery. Della and Abit take turns narrating the story. At first, I didn’t think I was going to like the story. The cover isn’t appealing; I would not have picked it up if I saw it on a bookstore shelf. (The author invited me to review the book, in case you’re wondering.) It took a while to get into Abit’s dialect, but McDaniel pulls it off. Still it got old fluctuating between Della’s correct grammar and Abit’s vocabulary and punctuation. That is the main reason  “Life for a Life” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.