From Publishers Weekly
The author of Blood Innocents, Tabernacle and other critically hailed mysteries, Cook creates a haunting atmosphere that envelops the reader of his strange new novel. Frank Clemons, a homicide detective in Atlanta, is obsessed by the murder of beautiful Angelique Devereauxpuhlease!. Her body is found in a slum, far from the mansion where Angelique lived with her older sister Karen, an artist. Orphans since childhood, both girls had been oddly uncommunicative although occupying the same house. Questioning the students at the dead girl's school, Clemons learns she had isolated herself from them also. All he knows is that she was lovely and pregnant, which propels him into a near-fanatic search for even a whisper about Angelique and her unknown lover. As the officer follows the trail to the victim's last few days, he arrives at a staggering truth that leaves him, and the reader, limp. The writing and characterizations are flawless, particularly as Cook unobtrusively but surely commands empathy for Frank Clemons, a good cop and a real human being. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A few hours after fellow police officers retrieve him from an alley, alcoholic Lieutenant Frank Clemons races to the scene of a murder in a vacant lot in Atlanta. The victim is a beautiful, pregnant girl. Because his own daughter committed suicide at age 16, Clemons is determined to uncover Laura Devereaux's killer. Legatee of a $3 million trust fund and cohabitant of a gracious mansion with artist sister Karen, Laura pursued a dual life, slumming it in the Grant Park area art galleries. Direct prose, steady focus, and quiet intensity contribute to a very satisfactory conclusion. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
