The Cottoncrest Curse

Rubin’s gripping debut mystery depicts the bitter racial divides of post-Reconstruction South and its continuing legacy. The story begins in 1893 in Louisiana with the discovery of middle-aged colonel Augustine Chastaine’s corpse sprawled across the mutilated body of his much younger wife, Rebecca, in their home, Cottoncrest Plantation. The evidence seems to indicate murder/suicide; just two more victims of the “Cottoncrest Curse.” Sheriff Raifer Jackson, however, is canny enough to realize that he’s actually looking at a double murder. Unfortunately for Jewish peddler Jake Gold, his religion and acquaintance with the dead couple makes him an ideal scapegoat; even the help of his friends and allies may not be enough to get him out of Louisiana and save him from the rage of the white supremacist Knights of Camellia. Aside from clumsy flash-forwards to 1961 and the present day notwithstanding, Rubin has created a convincing, if unsympathetic, examination of the Old South. [em](Sept.) [/em]