Publisher's Weekly
Young widow Sheila Travis takes on rural murder in her fourth outing (after Murder on Peachtree Street ). Sheila is drawn into the tangled affairs of the extended Sims family by her neighbor, Sara Sims Tait, following a developer's offer of $10 million for the family farm, within commuting distance of Atlanta. The family matriarch, Grandma Sims, refuses to give up the farm or allow it to be used for any purpose but agriculture. When domineering and unpleasant Martha Sloan Tait, a granddaughter and Sara's mother, is found shot to death in her kitchen, the family looks for an outside killer, but Sheila suspects various money-hungry and unpleasant family members. After Grandma Sims's remaining son, retarded Billy, is found hanged, the Simses would just as soon blame him and quietly close the case. But Sheila, pushed by her formidable Aunt Mary Beaufort, hunts for a killer who is willing to pare down the family to increase an inheritance. Sprinkle has an acute ear for the regional voice and a good eye for depicting rural southern life, but her mystery loses momentum before its resolution.