Jericho Cay by Kathryn R. Wall is the 11th book in the “Bay Tanner” mystery series. Publisher: Minotaur Books, April 2011
While restoring her Hilton Head home after a brush with a hurricane, PI Bay Tanner reluctantly accepts bestselling true-crime writer Winston Wolfe as a client. Arrogant and secretive, Wolfe is researching the cold-case disappearance of reclusive millionaire Morgan Tyler Bell from his secluded private island off the South Carolina coast. Adding to the mystery, Bell’s personal assistant vanished as well. But what has Bay’s investigative antennae quivering is the apparent suicide at the time of Bell’s longtime housekeeper. After viewing the scene inside the millionaire’s abandoned mansion on Jericho Cay, Bay isn’t so sure she should’ve taken the case.
Bay’s husband and new employee is hot to pursue the inquiry. A former sheriff’s deputy, Red would like nothing better than to solve the one case his old boss has never been able to close. But as Wolfe’s behavior becomes more and more bizarre, Bay is torn between her desire to earn her hefty fee and her fear that something much more sinister is going on just below the surface. Is Bell dead or alive? And who is the elusive man in the red baseball cap who just may hold the answers to all her questions?
While dealing with another tragedy that strikes at the heart of her family, Bay Tanner must dig beneath the lies and evasions that threaten all she holds dear—and her own life as well.
Jericho Cay is filled with Southern charm and local color, making it a terrific addition to Kathryn R. Wall’s sultry Lowcountry series, one of the most absorbing on bookshelves today.
I just love this series. A hurricane recently came through their town, but when another hurricane arrives in the form of a human named Wolfe, the team will not know what hit them until they solve the case. Wolfe needs the team’s help in proving whether a millionaire is dead or alive and when he turns up missing, and with an unexpected family situation, Bay has her hands full. This was a fast-moving, suspenseful page turner that I could not put down. The mystery kept me guessing throughout most of the story and with a wonderful cast and a warm southern atmosphere, I look forward to the next book in this charming and fascinating series.