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Eat your heart out, New York. Or, more specifically, all you New York publishers. You've let another rising star slip through your fingers, this time to be grabbed up by a small press from the Lone Star state. The Advance Books Company of Texas may not be a big name player in the book business, but with the release of L.B. Cobb's SPLENDOR BAY, they showed the publishing world that they recognize true talent. And talent would be L.B.'s middle name if she didn't already have one in the form of an initial. This is one savvy lady who not only knows how to plot an intriguing mystery, but also how to people that mystery with remarkably complicated yet true-to-life characters. The fact that she does this so skillfully belies Cobb's standing as a first-time author and makes this book a pleasure to read. SPLENDOR BAY's story line might be considered trite if handled less deftly: jilted husband finds body of wife's lover outside his home, becomes prime suspect in the murder, then escapes arrest by deducing identity of killer. An age-old theme of mystery novels, but in SPLENDOR BAY, the commonplace becomes extraordinary due to the identities and emotional intensity of the characters. Bill Glasscock is not your everyday high-priced lawyer. Instead, he's a man who walks away from his job in the middle of a trial -- thus earning himself a suspension from the bar -- after discovering his wife in bed with the governor of the state. But it's not only his job that Bill abandons. He shakes off an entire way of life, reverting to a beach-bum existence that includes shacking up with his wife's cousin, the beautiful state's attorney general, Sally Solana. Likewise, Eleana Glasscock is no ordinary housewife bent on a fling with a political celebrity. She's a woman whose position as head of the state archives provides her with ample opportunity to mingle with the local power brokers. Her involvement with Governor Wallace Moreno is due more to loneliness than love, her husband being too busy getting rich to pay her much attention. Toss in Bill and Eleana's teenage son, Davy, an insulin-dependent diabetic who's torn between both parents, and you have the makings of a family in turmoil where forgiveness and healing seem almost impossible. But murder has a strange way of drawing people together. In SPLENDOR BAY, the need to protect Eleana and Davy drives Bill to reexamine his relationships with both family members and friends. Most difficult of all, he's forced to take a long, hard look at himself. His quest for self-discovery becomes as arduous as his hunt for the governor's killer. It's rare for a writer to be able to imagine, much less clearly convey, the emotions of both sexes. Earning the simultaneous sympathy of the reader for differing characters is even more difficult. Cobb, though, accomplishes both these things in SPLENDOR BAY, and she does so in a way that is neither maudlin nor contrived. Instead, she uses crisp dialogue and cleanly written prose to portray the torment of love gone astray and the soul-searching task of personal recovery. What makes Cobb's feat even more remarkable is that it's accomplished in the context of a murder mystery. Make no mistake; SPLENDOR BAY is a fast paced suspense story sure to appeal to lovers of the genre. But it's a mystery of the heart as well, and as that, it succeeds where many other novels have failed. L.C. Cobb is one helluva writer. Thank goodness she chose to shine her light in the field of mysteries!
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, December 2001
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