Severn House Publishers
Featuring: Mac Bassett; Betty Jo Dean; Jen Jessup
339 pages ISBN: 1780105894 EAN: 9781780105895 Kindle: B00P6NG7XK e-Book Add to Wish List
This murder set in Illinois recalls a cold case in modern
day. In 1982 Betty Jo Dean meets Pauly Pribilski for a
drink; she's under age but gets away with a beer. Only
finding part-time work in quiet Grand Point, she intends
to
leave for Chicago when she's saved enough for a beautician
course. Pauly turns out to be hurrying to pay back a
debt, and crosses some gamblers. Next thing, Betty Jo is
missing and Pauly, who was seen driving with her, is dead.
SILENCE THE DEAD takes up with the investigation
uncovering
awful truths that shock the respectable residents. A
reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times is on the spot and
there are angry scenes in the courthouse. Jonah Ridy, the
reporter, has an outsider's view and he suspects that the
police are concealing evidence. But how much worse could
the story get?
In present day, Mac Bassett, Grand Point's new mayor, is
suddenly facing indictment on a financial matter when he
is
approached by a waitress with a suspicion about the old
case, the biggest scandal in town. Should he really dig it
all up again, or does it matter, since politically he has
nothing to lose?
With some strong language, gruesome imagery and acceptance
that some people who kill teenagers just get away with it,
this evocative rural tale is no cosy mystery. The elderly
reporter is revisited, and some local people's memories
are
fresh. The concept of letting sleeping dogs lie does
however include a warning, so perhaps Mac Basset and Jen
Jessup, an even more determined digger with a personal
involvement, are being unwise to pursue the matter.
Today's
people have cell phones and digital recorders, but nothing
will guarantee results except perseverance.
As the story sped up it became more gripping and I really
liked Jen's character, a tenacious young woman with a good
idea of how to check out evidence and eliminate
possibilities. Tragedy touched the lives of everyone in
Grand Point, and she's determined that it must end here.
SILENCE THE DEAD by Jack Frederickson is a good one for
serious murder mystery fans, especially those who like
cold
cases and plenty of danger.
The new mayor of a small town in Illinois unearths a
series of devastating secrets when he re-opens a 30-year-
old murder investigation
17-year-old Betty Jo Dean was abducted and murdered thirty
years ago. It took two days to find her body. She was
found, fully dressed apart from her slacks, beneath a
gnarled, stunted tree, shot in the back of the head. No
one was ever charged with her murder.
Now, following an appeal from one of his constituents,
Mayor Mac Bassett has called for the case to be re-opened.
But when the body is exhumed, it is revealed that the
skull, found loose in the coffin, does not belong to Betty
Jo.
If Mac could discover why Betty Jo’s head was taken, he
would be one step closer to finding out who killed her.
But no one in the small town of Grand Point is talking.
Sheriffs, doctors, medical examiners: everyone seems to be
warning Mac off. And then people start dying …
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