At the promising start to a new detective series by the author of the Jill Smith mysteries, a young priest is found hanged in particularly compromising circumstances in his parish church in Phoenix, Ariz. To determine whether the death was suicide or murder, the diocese's bishop calls upon Kiernan O'Shaughnessy, a young medical examiner turned private eye. Kiernan runs into obstacles at every turn, not the least of which are the cremation of the priest's body before an autopsy could be performed and her name forged on his false death certificate. While struggling with her own painful memories dredged up by the case, Kiernan uncovers a clan of hostile mountain villagers, a bizarre castle, a hidden shelter for abused women, and the diocese's plan to build an elegant retreat-resort in the nearby White Bone Mountains. Feisty Kiernan has appeal, but her debut is overburdened with subplots, complaints about the weather and hard-to-credit emotional conflicts regarding Kiernan's sister.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Susan Dunlap is an award-winning mystery writer. She was employed as a social worker when an Agatha Christie novel inspired her to try her hand at writing mysteries. Six manuscripts and six years later, she published Karma(1981), which began a ten-book series about brash Berkeley cop Jill Smith.
Since then, Dunlap has published more than two dozen novels and several short stories. Her other ongoing characters include Vejay Haskell, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy, and Zen student/stunt double Darcy Lott. Dunlap helped found Sisters in Crime. She lives near San Francisco.