When her beloved father is murdered at his isolated lake cottage, Abby Conners must re-evaluate all of her safe assumptions about life as she probes for possible hidden messages in her father's last novel that might reveal his killer. 25,000 first printing.
Jud Connors was a man with secrets, and after his murder in an isolated lakeside cabin in the Oregon Cascades, it's up to his daughter Abby to learn what they were in order to discover who killed him. The bestselling novelist left clues in his unfinished work, the final book in a trilogy, but first Abby must decipher them, translate her father's cryptic retelling of events that occurred in Southeast Asia long before she was born, and separate fact from fiction.
Abby was grateful for Felicia's matter-of-factness, her steadiness; she had read the entire novel, she knew exactly what Willa and Abby were going through now, and she was the calm storm center that was holding them both together, keeping them from dissolving into tears. Hesitantly Abby asked, "Did the girl, Sammy, did she die that day?" "I don't know," Felicia said. "For Link the war ended that day; he never referred to her again. I just don't know...."
With the help of Willa, Jud's lover, and Felicia, his closest friend, Abby learns that danger is closer to home than she'd imagined, a truth that's been telegraphed so far in advance that the reader is several steps ahead of the heroine. But the plot's rarely the thing in Kate Wilhelm's fine psychological thrillers. What counts is the lyrical writing, the decency of the protagonists, and the abiding affection Wilhelm feels for her lovingly described Northwest landscape. A welcome addition to her long list of titles, including the popular Barbara Holloway thrillers,
The Deepest Water may not be Wilhelm's strongest to date, but is nonetheless a well-written, nicely paced outing.
--Jane Adams
