Guest Reviewer EARL STAGGS on "Dance On His Grave"

Earl and I go wayback and I have been trying to bring him over to the darkside. Finally, he makes his debut appearance here. Earl keeps swearing off reviewing but I am hoping that this is the first of many appearances.

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Dance on His Grave
By Sylvia Dickey Smith
Published by: L&L Dreamspell
ISBN: 978-1-60318-006-1

Reviewed by Earl Staggs


Sidra “Sid” Smart bursts out of a tightly-wrapped cocoon when she divorces the man she married at the age of seventeen. After more than thirty years as the wife of a controlling Baptist preacher and being told what to do and think, how to dress and when to smile, she is determined to find out what kind of person she might have been.

First, however, she must travel from Houston to the east Texas town of Orange and dispose of the private investigation business willed to her by her brother, who was recently killed in a car accident.

When Sid visits her brother’s deserted office to plan how to get rid of it, a distraught young woman shows up. Jewell Stone has recurring nightmares and flashes of memory from thirty years ago when she was a child. She and her sister saw a woman being tortured and killed. The murderer also physically and sexually abused Jewell’s sister. The man was their father, Roy Manly, and both sisters live in mortal fear he will find them and silence them, even after all this time. Jewell hired Sid’s brother to find proof of his guilt and have him tried and convicted so she and her sister could live without fear of him and their terrifying nightmares would end.

Sid explains that her brother is dead and refers Jewell to another PI in the area. She may not be sure what she wants to do with the rest of her reclaimed life, but she is certain it will not be running a PI business, something she knows nothing about. The other PI, George Leger, a colorful bear of a man who speaks with a thick Cajun accent when it suits him, not only refuses to take over Jewell’s case, but convinces Sid to give the business a try under his tutelage.

The author did an excellent job of showing Sid as a woman balancing her desire to break away from the shackles of her previous life with a determination to see long overdue justice done. But it’s not only an internal struggle. Smith provides plenty of action, adventure and suspense along the way. In search of evidence against Roy Manly, she sends Sid traveling not only across Texas and to the island of Trinidad, but into the depths of an alligator-ridden swamp in search of a Cajun psychic. The search becomes more complicated when there are attempts on her life, and she uncovers evidence of other crimes involving someone in her ex-husband’s parsonage. Even the supposed accidental death of her brother becomes suspicious.

Smith has also surrounded Sid with an interesting and intriguing cast of characters. One is the local Police Chief who salivates at the thought of solving a thirty-year-old murder. Another is Sid’s wacky Aunt Annie, who arrives wearing a raspberry beret, a bright green pantsuit and gaudy costume jewelry with a large metallic-gold purse slung over one shoulder and a huge tabby cat named Chesterfield over the other.

The local DA is also highly interested, not only in the old murder, but in Sid personally. The attraction between them frightens Sid with feelings she doesn’t want. She is convinced all men want to control women, and she has to remind herself she can never let that happen to her again.

Author Sylvia Dickey Smith has skillfully woven a story of a woman driven to begin a new life on her own with a chilling tale of mystery and suspense. You’ll find yourself drawn to Sid Smart and cheering for her to succeed against past and present obstacles all the way to the knuckle-whitening climax. You’ll also find yourself, like me, wanting to see more of Sid in future novels.


Earl Staggs © 2007