Celebration in Purple Sage

Synopsis

Jolie Wyatt has just had her world turned upside down: the in-laws are coming back to town. Edith and Will Wyatt are perfectly kind, decent people, but Jolie has always felt that in their eyes she pales in comparison to their son's first wife. And Jolie's panic over the arrival of Matt's parents isn't helping their own relationship much, either. The reason for the homecoming is tiny Purple Sage's Centennial Celebration and reunion of former residents, including several of the German soldiers who were interned at the POW camp nearby during World War II. Also returning for the reunion is Matt's ex-wife, Cecily, who is just a little too charming and elegant for Jolie's comfort. Jolie is up to her ears in family crises both real and imagined, but she may go under when murder enters the picture. Vera Meece, one of the celebration organizers, is shot to death, and Jolie's good friend Sheriff Mac Donelly is seriously wounded. Trying to uncover a motive for the brutal attacks, Jolie must look to the past to prevent the killer from striking again. From The Critics Kirkus Reviews Purple Sage is a hundred, and people from all over Texas and lesser parts of the globe are coming to help Jolie Wyatt (KSGE news radio) and her rancher husband Matt (actually her once and future husband, since they haven't quite gotten around to retying the knot) celebrate. Unfortunately, those people include not only Jolie's distant in-laws, but Cecily Wyatt, Matt's charming British ex, and somebody who ambushes Centennial Celebration chairwoman Vera Meece at nearby Camp John Seybold, the notorious wartime internship site, and shoots her dead. Bossy Vera is no great loss, but the killer also puts Sheriff Mac Donelly in the hospital, catapulting nincompoop deputy Ed Presnell into the law- officer's chair, from which he rises only to arrest first Matt, then Jolie, and tail both of them around town when they're sprung from the hoosegow-seriously incommoding Jolie's search for the mystery man, "a gentleman and an officer," Vera said she was going to meet as she left for her fatal rendezvous at Camp John Seybold. Jolie's third case (Dust Devils of the Purple Sage, 1995, etc.) is hands-down her best, with a clever plot, a surprising and plausible killer, and Jolie's standby good humor smoothing the bumps between alarums and excursions-though by the time it's all over, you'll swear you've met every single one of the estimated 22,400 visitors to the Purple Sage Centennial.

Copyright:

1996

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

261 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780373262618

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

06/08/07

Copyrighted By:

Barbara Burnett Smith

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers

Submitted By:

NW

Proofread By:

Freda

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.