Sorrow Wood

Subtle humor and mostly pitch-perfect prose distinguish Atkins's compelling mix of mystery and romance, set in 1985 with flashbacks to the 1930s and '40s. When Wendell Blackmon, the 59-year-old police chief of Sand Valley, Ala., investigates the murder of a self-proclaimed witch whose charred body was found at a farm called Sorrow Wood, he discovers that the victim was loathed by many in her occult-as-an-excuse-for-free-love coven. Meanwhile, decades earlier, after a painful childhood, Wendell meets his future wife, Reva, falls in love and marries her in the course of a week. Together they build a family. Reva, who serves as Sand Valley's probate judge and believes in reincarnation, believes she and Wendell have shared several lifetimes, indicated in historical vignettes throughout. Atkins (The Front Porch Prophet ) smoothly weaves past into present as the action builds to a final poignant twist. (Aug.)