Selena

Retired archaeology professor Colin Edwards returns to the site of his first dig--a native American mound on a family-owned island--when his cousin's attempts to excavate the site again cause trouble.

In this tedious, repetitious first novel, a tale of greed and faded Southern gentility, a retired archeologist reluctantly returns to his boyhood home in St. Christopher, Fla., at the urgent request of his cousins. Colin Edwards is surprised at the hysterical bickering of Charles Randall and Webster Bull, who are quarreling over a parcel of land they own jointly with Colin and Charles's twin sister, the lovely septuagenarian Selena. Charles believes that a fortune in gold artifacts is buried on the land and wants to excavate, but the others object. When Webster is inexplicably murdered, a shocked Colin begins to learn intimate family secrets. Flashbacks to his youthful infatuation with Selena and competition among the cousins, however, provide only vague clues to present-day developments. Lacking memorable characters and a suspenseful plot, the narrative simply drags on until its big secret can be revealed. The cast of senior citizens could have provided an unusual point of view, but Willey's attitude toward age is too sentimental to be of much interest.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

By the time retired archeologist and longtime Bostonian 72- year-old Colin Edwards concludes a visit to his native St. Christopher's, a Florida coastal town, there will be four funerals and a murdering loony in the clink. When Colin visits his kin, including best friend Cousin Charles and Charles's twin sister Selena (an old flame still emitting a spark or two), Colin hears about the nighttime sniper, and also realizes that he is being pressured heavily by Charles to supervise a dig in an old Indian mound on a family-owned island, where Selena's ex-husband and some unsavory chums seem to have business. The island, soon to be sold by the family (someone seems determined to pick off the shareholders), holds some grisly secrets. Between murders, academic shoptalk with peers, family gossip, and some memorable meals, Colin has an amorous reunion. A fine debut--all unhurried, forthright, companionable, and buttoned down. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.