Dismas learns that a fellow parent at their children’s school, Dr. Bree Beaumont, has been murdered. An environmental activist, Bree had been the spearhead in the war against an additive to gasoline known as MBTE. Bree’s husband, Ron, was having coffee with Frannie about the time of the murder and he divulged some family secrets to her.

Frannie refuses to tell Dismas what the mysterious secret is that is keeping her incarcerated. This erodes Dismas' confidence in her and in their marriage. Dismas then embarks on a long and tortuous journey that is condensed into a few days to find Bree's killer in order to help his wife. The journey is overburdened by extraneous stories that often reveal the author's knowledge of the courtroom but really do not contribute to the plot.

Character development reveals just enough about a person necessary for them to make their contribution to plot advancement. This single faceted approach to personalities in the final analysis makes it hard to care a whole lot about the result.

Scenes shift swiftly, although the pace is slowed by an extraordinary amount of detail. Keeping the conflict in focus to escalate the tension of a mystery is hard to do under these circumstances. And what could have been an interesting conflict between the husband and wife comes across as factually dry.

And the “Perry Mason” ending pushes the envelope of credibility.

--Thea Davis