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GHOST TOWNS is the second in Betsy Thornton's series about victim's advocate Chloe Newcombe, set in Dudley, Arizona. Local Judge Calvin Thomas is first missing, and then found murdered. Chloe goes along with the local law enforcement to do the death notification. The family she notifies consists of the wife, Lee, a pre-teen son, Justin, and Lee's mother, Gladys. Lee had been described to Chloe as classy and as feeling herself above the local community, but in person she is raggedly dressed and, of course, rather stunned by the news. Chloe's friend Nate Pendergast, a local reporter, hints that he knows something about the murder, and may be in danger. He then disappears. Chloe and his girlfriend Nola investigate but don't find him. Meanwhile Chloe's own love life grows difficult. Her boyfriend Craig violently tosses his house one night, then disappears too. He calls a few days later to say he is in rehab for abuse of pain-killers. In the midst of all this, Lee asks Chloe to find her daughter, a photographer and University of Arizona student. The daughter, Cornelia, has cut herself off from all contact with her family, and Lee wants to make sure she knows about her father's death. Chloe finds Corney taking photographs, and eventually Corney's photographs tie the whole case together. Thornton is a good stylist with polished writing. She describes the desert and various small towns and ghost towns beautifully. Her characters are mostly realistic. The plot works though at times seems contrived and hard to fit together. Give it a try – GHOST TOWNS is a worthwhile read.
Reviewed by Mary A. Axford, February 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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