Growing up Michael “Gypsy” Moran could not wait to
leave the isolated town of Wink in far West Texas. He would not be back now if
not for a problem in Vegas that required him to make a very hasty departure. A
problem that very well might have gotten him killed if he had stuck around. A problem that came about because of his work
as a private investigator.
The last thing he needs now after driving 18 hours
straight in his van with his few possessions is a case. But Rhonda, Gypsy’s
sister, is a force not to be denied. Rhonda, with the help of twelve year old
Tatum, wants Gypsy to dig into the alleged suicide of Ryce McCallen. The deputy,
who worked for the Winkler County Sheriff’s Office before his death, was
quietly investigating the disappearance of eight local girls. All were illegals
which meant that other than the families involved---and sometimes not even them---
nobody besides Ryce McCallen cared enough to do something. The former deputy
didn’t involve his old department as he didn’t trust them. He maintained an
investigative file at home and said file is now in the possession of his twelve
year old son, Tatum.
It has been twenty years since Gypsy left Wink,
Texas and swore never to return. It has been a little over two hours since he
got back and Rhonda and his grandmother, “Gram” act like he never left and is
still 18. Nothing has really changed
back home except he is a bit older and more aware sometimes when things don’t
feel right. The fact that the Sheriff’s department made sure that the autopsy
requested by the family was not done and handled all the funeral arrangements
under the guise of helping the grief stricken family does not sit right with
Gypsy. That fact and a few other things make Gypsy’s taking of the case
inevitable.
Through in an old romance, long buried secrets, and
the desolate landscape of west Texas in summer and the result is a complex
mystery with multiple storylines and agendas. Authors such as Bill Crider and
Terry Shames, among others, have done very well by writing about life in small
Texas towns and the depravity that lurks behind closed doors before occasionally
erupting into the open for all to see. Small town secrets and engaging characters
drive their novels and the same is true here. You can easily add author Lynn Chandler
Willis to the mix with a debut novel of what hopefully will grow into a steady
series.
Winner of the 2013 PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition,
Wink
Of An Eye: A Mystery, brings to life an intriguing cast of core characters, a
complex mystery, and the desolate beauty of west Texas that can fry your brain
in a heartbeat if the rattlesnakes don’t kill you first. It does not matter how
big your TBR pile is --- move this one on up there.
Wink
Of An Eye: A Mystery
Lynn
Chandler Willis
A
Thomas Dunne Book (Minotaur Books)
2014
ISBN#
978-1-250-05319-0
Hardback
(e-book available)
304
Pages
$24.99
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano
Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
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