A Death in Bulloch Parish: A Mitch Stevens Mystery

In this follow-up to Land Kills , easygoing journalism professor and ex-reporter Mitch Stevens leaves New York City for Louisiana. After Tom Cantwell, Mitch's friend and mentor, dies in Louisiana while researching material for a book about a Civil War spy, Mitch promises the widow to consider finishing the project. He goes to Virgil, La., to talk to Martha Tour Gale, the last person Tom interviewed, but finds out that she too has recently died. Mitch learns that Tom, who apparently died of natural causes, believed that someone had broken into his motel room to look at his papers. Suspecting that both his friend and the old woman may have been murdered, Mitch traces Tom's leads and in the process is amazed by the overt racism he observes in the town. Learning to navigate the unfamiliar intricacies of Southern society, black and white, Mitch uncovers secrets of the past so dark that one of Virgil's leading citizens will kill to keep them buried. Staving off attempts on his own life, Mitch calls on research and reporting skills to solve both the historical puzzle and the modern-day crimes, all the while being educated in a tradition of racism and exposed to its current forms. Although a little heavy on the message, this entertaining tale is deftly plotted and well cast. (Nov.)