The small town of Amaryllis, Mississippi, has been terrorized by a serial killer for the past three years. Other than the five victims being woman, there seems to be no discernible pattern -- they have been old, young, black, and white. The killer has been dubber The Closet Killer as he (or she) always places the victim in a closet. As GONE TO GROUND opens, a sixth murder has taken place; another victim has fallen prey to the Closet Killer.

Each chapter in this book is told from a different character's view - Tully, a pregnant woman who is abused by her husband; Cherrie Mae, a church-going housecleaner; and Deena, a hair stylist with a developmentally disabled brother. In a town the size of Amaryllis (population 1700), most everyone in town knows each other and knows everyone else's business. So it's a little surprising that each of the three women is secretly positive she knows who the Closet Killer is. The problem is that each woman suspects a different person (Tully knows her husband is guilty, Deena is sure her brother did it, and Cherrie Mae has evidence the town mayor committed the murders).

The man each woman suspects certainly has motive and opportunity, but will the police listen to someone with only a gut instinct and no physical evidence? The issue gets compounded when the police arrest Deena's brother. Were Tully and Cherrie Mae wrong? Or did the police arrest the wrong person? At a town hall meeting, the women figure out that something is amiss and start to work together to figure everything out.

GONE TO GROUND really picks up once the women start working together. Unfortunately, part of the book is a bit too obvious. In other words, one of the men the women suspect is clearly not the Closet Killer and I thought this was obvious from the beginning. I will say, though, that I only figured out who the actual culprit was mere pages before it is revealed in the book.

Another criticism I have is that Ms. Collins wrote Cherrie Mae's chapters in a distinct dialect, which made this character seem uneducated, although it is clear that she isn't. Cherrie Mae can quote Sir Conan Doyle, Tennyson, Shakespeare, and Sophocles. She does not, however, know the difference between "of" and "a" and refers to a "door" as a "doh," for instance. Not only was this immensely distracting, but I found it disrespectful as it seemed like a way to "other" someone who is already "othered" enough in her community. There are certainly ways for each character to have a distinct voice other than to be written in particular dialect.

Overall, GONE TO GROUND is a good read for the suspense and intrigue, but the writing style is not something that I would seek out again.