Synopsis
Receiving a convincing letter from her mother, whom she had believed died thirty years ago in a plane crash, Samantha Adams is baffled and travels to Santa Fe, the source of the letter, to investigate.
Reviews
Melodrama reigns in this seventh in the series, which finds Samantha Adams, author of books on the bizarre, starring in her own personal Twilight Zone episode. Sam gets a letter from her mother, who was presumed to have died in a plane crash when Sam was eight, asking for her help. With enough information to sound authentic, the letter prompts Sam to leave New Orleans for Santa Fe immediately. Sam and her mother have a brief reunion, but before explanations are offered, the older woman dies, an apparent suicide. Desperate to understand her mother's past, Sam probes her life in Santa Fe and meets her tenant (an artist who paints cars), her lawyer and other denizens of the desert who fill in some of the blanks for the grieving daughter. What Sam learns makes her doubt the police verdict of suicide. Fleshing out the narrative, Shankman tacks on a subplot about a local televangelist and his wife. The story of Sam's mother exerts an emotional pull?but on easily plucked heartstrings, which, added to an unconvincing villain, diminishes this tale's overall impact.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The seventh in this well-received series (He Was Her Man, 1993, etc.) finds the author's journalist heroine Samantha (Sam) Adams in a state of shock after receiving a letter from the mother she had thought deadkilled, along with Sam's fatherin a plane crash when Sam was just eight. The letter asks Sam to come to the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe and includes details that leave her in no doubt of the writer's identity. Thus begins an unreal saga that has Sam's mother (known for five years in Santa Fe as interior designer Johanna Hall) committing suicide soon after her meeting with Sam. Trying to cope with her grief, the funeral arrangements, and the never-explained reason for her mother's cry for help, Sam moves into Johanna's house in the hills. She gets support from her mother's lawyer LoEllen and from handyman Jesus, a gifted painter who uses old cars as canvases. She also meets suave New York gallery owner Antonio Pomodoro; neighbor Jayvee Paris, who refuses to talk to her; and Jayvee's young daughter Isabel, a replica of Sam at the same age. There's a subplot involving distraught guru Stuart Wonder, and there's nasty detective Victor Vigil, whose mother plays a crucial role when Sam finally confronts the villain in an old turquoise mine where, at last, all is made clear. With its heavily manipulated plotting, its string of exotic nutcases moving things along, and a depressed, nightmare-ridden Sam, this is one of the author's less successful forays. Intriguing unanswered questions, though, plus southwestern lore and a high suspense level, save the day. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
As New Orleans reporter Samantha Adams is on her way to her Uncle George's seventy-fifth birthday party, she gets a letter from her mother in Santa Fe. Trouble is, her mother and father died 35 years ago in a plane crash. Samantha goes to Santa Fe to unravel the mystery and gets drawn into a tangle of related mysteries involving matters both trendy (New Age religion) and timeless (Sicilian blood feuds). This seventh installment in Shakman's Samantha Adams series features snappy dialogue, eccentric yet endearing characters, and realistic descriptions of the South and Southwest. Occasionally, the characters suffer from excess cuteness, and the finale loses punch by being overlong. These concerns are overcome, however, by energetic writing and clever plot twists. John Rowen
In receipt of a cryptic message from her mother?who supposedly died in a plane crash 34 years ago?series sleuth Samantha Adams (He Was Her Man, LJ 10/1/93), crime reporter-turned-writer, flies to Santa Fe. She meets mom (a successful interior designer) long enough to realize that she lives in constant fear, then loses her hours later to an apparent suicide. Sam's investigation into her mother's past brings immediate trouble in the form of dangerously deceitful suspects, a trashed house, attempted murder, and a forbidding turquoise mine. Shankman sticks with her proven formula: a strong protagonist, fascinating plot, and effective setting. An essential purchase.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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