Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Grim Reaper Dance-Judy Clemens

The Grim Reaper Dance
Judy Clemens
Poisoned Pen, Aug 1 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9781590587317

Casey “Jones” Maldonado is on the run from the CEO of Pegasus. One of his defective cars caused an accident that killed her husband and son. She is also wanted for the murder of a Louisville criminal and for questioning in the death of a Clymer, Ohio citizen. Her only companion is Death and she wishes he would really take her so she can join her family.

She hitches a ride with Wayne a trucker. They get into an accident caused by men who want the papers he has hidden on his truck. Before he dies, he tells Casey where they are and she stays in the small town where Wayne lived to obtain the papers and see that Wayne in death receives justice. Plenty of truckers from Class P Trucking wants the documents and will do whatever it takes to retrieve them. Casey takes refuge in a shed in the middle of nowhere. There she meets teens who were at the hospital. They kind of adopt her and help her when the truckers catch up to Casey who in spite of the danger remains resolute in determining who killed Wayne.

Death is an actual essence that only Casey can see though one can wonder whether she suffers delusions. He is with her trying to convince her that she needs to swing the bat by rejoining the living as it is not time for her to Embrace the Grim Reaper. Casey has a deep rooted social conscience so though she prefers death rather than life as her companion, she still insists social justice occurs and is willing to risk her existence to see it happen even for a dead person. The Grim Reaper Dance is an excellent mystery starring a strange perhaps deranged heroine and her “BFF” Death.

Harriet Klausner

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