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Feminist Mystery Reviews
ACTS OF MURDER
Laurali R. Wright
Scribner, Jul 1998, $22.00, 288 pp.
ISBN: 0-684-81381-5
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
After living together for many years, Staff Sargent Karl Alberg
and Cassandra Mitchell marry. On that same day, a virus infects
the townsfolk of Sechelt, Canada. It begins with the disappearance
of a teenage girl, whose corpse was found in a shallow grave over
a year later.
A young woman also vanishes after an ugly argument with her now
worried spouse. Her body is found near the first body. A housewife
thinks she kills her husband when she can no longer tolerate his
infidelities. However, when she goes to dispose of the corpse, the
body is missing. A waitress at the local diner turns up missing
as well.Karl knows that he must uncover the identity of someone
who is executing non-repenting sinners.
Laurali R. Wright, who is considered one of Canada's top mystery
writers, is actually is one of the world's top crime authors. She
is able to capture the mindset of the victims, perpetrators, and
authorities with clarity rarely seen in novels. ACTS OF MURDER is
actually three stories woven together by decade old actions. However,
the book is very atmospheric, depending more on mood rather than
action, and why rather than who. Ms. Wright may be in line for another
Edgar with this terrific tale.
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