A Legacy of Vengeance

Generation-old wounds from a time of nationwide social upheaval inspire a series of bloody revenge murders in this uninspired debut set in rural Mississippi. When Reverend Richard Hatchett is gunned down in front of his Baptist church one Sunday evening, Chakchiuma County Sheriff Grover Bramlett begins his search for a mysterious killer who will murder several more local men, with only the phrase, ``Remember Leavenworth'' and the appearance of a 1960s-model white Pontiac given in warning. Bramlett's two trusted deputies--one white, whose father was rumored to have had KKK ties; one black, whose father was a civil rights activist--gain troubling insights into the case by probing their respective family histories. Then Bramlett realizes he too may be on the murderer's list. Armistead's characters are one-dimensional and his plot alternates between the predictable and the incredible, yet he has a knack for brisk pacing and his story, while unsurprising, never flags. (July)