cover image Snakes in the Garden

Snakes in the Garden

L. S. Whitley, L. S. Whiteley. Walker & Company, $19.95 (223pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-1113-7

Believe Thomas Clay, egocentric and unsavory narrator who says about himself, ``I'm a bastard. I know it; I can't help it. And, in truth, even if I could help it, I wouldn't, because that's just the way I am.'' Clay, an ex-drug dealer turned real-estate developer in Sarasota, Fla., is the prime suspect when his rich, powerful irascible grandfather is found, shot, face down in a pile of cow dung. Sent to help the police in their investigation is Mason Brooks, a governor's aide. Unfortunately for Clay, Brooks has a long memory and a grudge: in grade school Clay had tried to flush his head down the toilet. To get Brooks off his tail, Clay decides to find his grandfather's killer by interrogating his odd, disturbed cousins. The impact of this darkly ironic mystery with its vivid characterizations is hampered by Clay's long-winded self-absorption and Whiteley's irritating parenthetical style. (July)