The Barnes & Noble Review
A dog trainer by profession, Jo Beth Sidden has known plenty of hardship -- and seen the law from both sides. She found the strength to flee an abusive marriage, only to face the terror of being stalked by her ex-husband. When she shot him in self-defense, the shocking guilty verdict in her trial gave birth to a new kind of terror. She owes her current freedom to a last-minute miracle -- a legal technicality used to overturn the unjust verdict. Now Jo Beth lives on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, on call 24/7 with her highly trained tracking dogs. In this sixth bloodhound mystery, as Jo Beth and her team cope with a couple of business-as-usual calls, Jo Beth also does some tracking on a personal matter: Someone she knows started a rumor that ended in three deaths, and Jo Beth needs to know if the person responsible was merely engaging in innocent gossip or actually planning to commit murder. Virginia Lanier deals with powerful emotions and serious subjects but still maintains a sense of humor. The result is an emotionally complex story with rich atmosphere and a compelling plot. Sue Stone