Ordinary Justice

Fiction. In the serenity and solitude of the West Virginia mountains, in a small town whose sole claim is that the local inn was a stop on the legendary Underground Railroad, Zoe Kergulin has fled to rebuild her life. But her past threatens to catch up with her when Zoe's neighbor, Susan Rourke, disappears and is presumed murdered by her estranged husband. As Zoe investigates a stormy relationship that ended in the brutal murder of one spouse and the dissappearance of the other, she discovers a close-knit community of rural folk whose members hide secrets of their own. Travel along the twists and turns of these mountain trails where the most dangerous animals lurking in the shadows are the two-legged variety.

Despite its many flaws, this debut novel's openly feminist depiction of battered women in rural America is surprisingly compelling. After witnessing her best friend's murder by an abusive spouse, Zoe Kergulin left her well-paying job as a security expert with the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., for the solitude of the West Virginia hills, hoping to find a measure of tranquillity. But three years later, the pattern of violence seems to be repeating itself when Zoe's skittish neighbor, Susan Rourke, disappears, leaving behind a trailer spattered with blood. Zoe, who had suspected Susan was running away from domestic violence, fears the young woman may be dead, and the small town of Sinksville quickly organizes a search party for her. The body they find is not Susan's, however. It's that of her husband, who has been killed with a shotgun and dumped in a ravine. Police suspicion naturally falls upon Susan, and Zoe, intending to help protect her neighbor, decides to join their manhunt. Then another local woman goes missing, and her irate husband terrorizes several citizens, causing Zoe to take a closer look at the secretive inhabitants of Sinksville, particularly the disingenuous proprietors of the town's historic inn, Ruth and Ardell. Labovitz's transitions between scenes can be unpleasantly abrupt, and she doesn't delve deeply enough into Zoe's background, leaving her heroine's motivations vague. Nonetheless, her story has a good momentum that even a convoluted subplot can't stymie, and the novel's solution packs an unexpected punch.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Time was when the Underground Railroad was the most important mode of transportation in Bickle County, West Virginia. But now that D.C. shamus Zoe Kergulin has returned to Bickle County to get back to the soil and away from the relatives of the man she killed moments after he murdered his abused wife, she finds that runaway wives have taken the slaves' place. Zoe's neighbor Susan Rourke, who's been too afraid of her estranged husband Patrick to say anything about him to Zoe, has disappeared without a trace. When a search party headed by Zoe's cousin, Bickle County sheriff Ethan McKenna, finds a body, it's not Susan's but Patrick's. Did he kill his wife before she shot him? Did he kill himself after murdering her and hiding her body? Is she still alive, hiding out after killing him? Stung into action by her failure to protect this second victimized wife, Zoe launches an all-out effort to pick up Susan's trail. She doesn't succeed, but along the way she discovers a jeweled ring that leads her back in time to a much older killingone with surprising links to Susan's disappearance, a host of long-buried local secrets, and, yes, the Underground Railroad. What Labovitzs debut lacks in expert carpentryZoe's detection feels driven yet lackadaisical, and the murderer seems to come out of a different bookit makes up for in its feeling for the land and its not-so-simple people. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A promising newcomer to the growing ranks of feminist detectives, private investigator Zoe Kergulin debuts in Labovitz's first novel. Zoe has returned to her hometown in West Virginia, fleeing memories of her days as a Justice Department investigator in D.C., where she saw her best friend murdered by an abusive husband. Although kept busy puttering around her three-story Queen Anne house deep in the hills, where only the gas company shares access, Zoe achieves neither rest nor peace, for a neighbor, Susan Rourke, disappears and is presumed to have been murdered by her battering husband. When he turns up dead, the authorities organize a hunt for the assumed killer, Susan. Zoe joins the search, of course, and uncovers the closely guarded secrets of rural neighbors who may not be on the side of justice. The convoluted plot eventually deteriorates, literally going to the dogs, but readers may be hooked by Zoe as a character and anticipate better future capers. Whitney Scott

Private investigator Zoe Kergulin, formerly with the Justice Department in Washington, has "retired" to the West Virginia hills following the shooting death of her best friend. After a local woman "hiding" from an abusive spouse disappears, Zoe joins the team looking for herApartly because she could not save her friend from a similar situation. The team instead finds a dead husband, suspicion falls on the wife, and Zoe begins her own search. A love of nature, a profound sense of place, and a sharp eye for detail all characterize this entrancing first novel. A real gem.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.