Lowcountry Boneyard
“A well-written, traditional mystery that is as charming as its Southern Belle protagonist.”
Liz Talbot is a southern belle, or at least she has a close acquaintance with that classification of Charleston, South Carolina, womanhood. What affects her authenticity is the fact that your average southern belle doesn’t carry a handgun, affectionately named “Sig,” pepper spray, and a Taser in her designer purse.
Nor is your average southern belle a licensed private investigator. Liz Talbot, along with her partner and lover, Nate Andrews, own Talbot and Andrews Investigations.
Besides pre-trial investigations for criminal defense attorneys, Liz and Nate also look into “domestic misunderstandings.” Their remaining case load “involves everything from conspiracy to kidnap a prize hound for stud services to conspiracy to commit murder.”
In between those two extremes—the farcical and the deadly—falls missing persons cases. When Colton Heyward hires Liz to find his missing daughter, Kent, Liz is afraid this case veers more toward the deadly end of the spectrum.
In accepting the case to find 23-year-old Kent Heyward, Liz is “dealing with old money and a family tree including names from history books.” The same is true of Heyward’s wife, Virginia, and her family, the Bounetheaus. In fact, the Bounetheaus are rooted more deeply in Charleston historical soil than Colton Heyward’ s family, and are even richer.
Kent’s grandmother, Abigail Bounetheau, is more of a thorn in the side of the Charleston Police Department than even Colton Heyward. Sonny, Liz’s friend in the CPD, says the department would welcome anyone who might deflect Abigail’s attention.
For all Abigail’s desire to find her granddaughter, she is suspicious and disapproving of Liz. “Mrs. Bounetheau looked down her patrician nose at me. Clearly, she did not approve of me nor any of my ancestors.”
Liz knows where there is family money and lots of it, there is a motive for murder. If Kent is dead then her share of the family greenbacks will increase the inheritance of her remaining relatives. Liz is particularly suspicious of Kent’s weird twin uncles, Peter and Peyton Bounetheau.
Colton Heyward is certain that Kent’s boyfriend, Matthew Thomas, is responsible for Kent’s disappearance even though he has an alibi. “Kent has been dating a cook,” he said, like one might sooner date a llama.” If not equal in wealth, Heyward and his mother-in-law are equal in snobbery.
Kent’s best friend and cousin, Ansley Johnson, is certain that Matthew is innocent. The fact that Ansley is more than a little in love with the sous chef is also suspicious, although Liz doesn’t believe the girl is involved in Kent’s disappearance.
Another complication in the case is the fact that Kent kept secrets from her family. A very talented painter, although her father and grandmother dismiss her painting as a “hobby,” Kent has made friends with Evan Ingle, himself a painter and owner of an art gallery. Colton Heyward and Abigail are surprised to learn of the relationship.
Liz receives a gift package left on her front porch by an unknown person. There is nothing unknown about how lethal the rattlesnake inside the package is. Only Nate’s suspicions about the package and his aim with a shotgun saves Liz’s life.
A warning from Colleen, Liz’s long dead best friend and guardian spirit, saves Liz’s and Nate’s lives in a car crash deliberately caused by an unknown driver. Whether it is the same person or persons who sent her the rattlesnake, Liz and Nate have no way of knowing, but someone is very determined to frighten off the two PIs.
As Liz and Nate continue their investigation, they continue to uncover family secrets going back decades in some instances, that no one wants revealed. For instance, does Virginia’s first marriage, hidden from Colton, have anything to do with Kent’s disappearance?
When Liz finds Kent’s red Mini Cooper convertible partially buried in a swamp next to Magnolia Cemetery, she knows that if Kent vanished voluntarily, then someone helped her. Otherwise, Kent is dead, murdered by whoever hid her Mini Cooper.
Liz Talbot, although a bit obsessive compulsive with her use of hand sanitizer, is a three-dimensional character who is pragmatic much of the time. Liz also breaks with what has become a tiresome stereotype in female PI fiction: the scruffy woman in jeans and a T-shirt who has difficulty in her relationship with men. Liz Talbot dresses very well, thank you very much, and her difficulties with Nate involve geography, not distrust.
What is stereotypical, but might be considered a necessary part of southern traditional mysteries, is the ghost or guardian spirit: Colleen. Susan M. Boyer keeps Colleen’s supernatural interference with Liz’s investigation to a minimum, but her limited appearances also make it more difficult for her character to engage the reader.
For its humor, its characterization, its delightful descriptions of Charleston, and its depiction of southern culture, Lowcountry Boneyard is a first rate novel. Kudos to Susan M. Boyer for also creating a first rate mystery.