Skeletons in Purple Sage - Hardcover

Smith, Barbara Burnett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312284632 ISBN 13: 9780312284633

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2002

Synopsis

Purple Sage, Texas, is experiencing a natural disaster, with floodwaters rushing through the streets and torrential downpours continuing with no end in sight. This calls for a dinner party! The governor's in town to assess the damage, and Jolie Wyatt, mystery novelist and amateur sleuth, is hosting an after-hour reception in his honor. Only problem is, the historic home that's to be the site of the extravaganza is under six feet of water.

Not to worry--Jolie has it under control. She moves the party next door, making the best of the resulting logistical and personal problems, since the new hostess is the younger second wife of the ex of one of Jolie's best friends. Despite the distractions, the governor's visit is running smoothly until a dead body turns up in a rain-drenched ditch.

The investigation takes the whole town by storm, forcing Jolie to step in and find out what really happened on that dark and rainy night in Texas. Skeletons in Purple Sage is a tangled web full of small-town politics and complex personal relationships tinted with the Texas charm that has made Barbara Burnett Smith's cozy Jolie Wyatt mysteries a big hit.

About this title

From Booklist

Jolie Wyatt, KSGE radio reporter, wife, and mother, is back in her fifth cozy set in Purple Sage, Texas. During a flood that ravages the small town, a respected local citizen is found wedged in a tree, the body half in a swollen creek. Deep affection for the victim propels Jolie to investigate the death (and disprove the rumors of suicide, which in a small fundamentalist community like Purple Sage could cause the shunning of the victim and his family). The mystery is secondary here to the interlocking relationships of families and friends in the close-knit community, all of which is described in an appealing conversational style by the fiercely independent, highly sympathetic narrator, Jolie, who also takes time to discuss her own personal travails brought on by her beloved father's death and her mother's seemingly uncaring attitude toward her. Reminiscent of Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series, in which China also has a strained relationship with her mother. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly

Amateur sleuth Jolie Wyatt has her hands full with another round of suspicious deaths in her fifth down-homey whodunit, Barbara Burnett Smith's Skeletons in Purple Sage. It's monsoon season in the small Texas town, and the mysterious drowning death of a local doctor and the disappearance of a young and somewhat unpleasant wife have Jolie juggling investigative duties, interpersonal politics and complex family dramas, all with her characteristic wit and aplomb.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312284632
• ISBN 13: 9780312284633
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256