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Door County, Wis., is situated in a perfect spot to be the vacation wonderland it is. It's essentially an island on the eastern edge of the state, sticking out into Lake Michigan and separated from the rest of Wisconsin by a canal. Trees, golf courses, and the lake itself, make this a perfect spot for the big city folks from Milwaukee and Chicago to build summer vacation homes. It also makes rich pluckings for a thief or thieves who have hauled off a fortune in antiques and coin collections. Lark Swenson, a sheriff in nearby Big Oak County, and State Det. Lacey Smith have been called in to help the local sheriff, Ray Skewski, investigate the thefts, but when their friend Ann Ranson stumbles across the body of a murdered man on the eighth green of a local golf course, their attention is divided across two fronts. Who would want to murder Paul Larsen, a Chicago architect and local landowner? Well, actually, quite a few people. Larsen was against almost all commercial development in Door County and had raised the hackles of a lot of folks who weren't happy about his opposition to their money plans. Swenson tackles the investigation. Lacey, in the meantime, focuses on how the thief or thieves are gaining undetected access to the vacation homes and managing to make off with only the most valuable pieces. With the help of Joel Grenfurth, another state policeman, and insurance investigator Russ O'Flaherty, Lacey traces the stolen property to a number of prestigious auction houses across the United States. But as they start to close in on the answer to the break-ins, it becomes apparent that there's a tie-in with the murder of Paul Larsen. It also becomes apparent that Lacey faces grave personal danger as she nears the solution to both the thefts and the murder. DEATH AT THE DOOR features strong regional flavor, interesting plot twists and several romantic relationships, including between Lacey and Lark, a man implicitly still grieving over the loss of his wife several years earlier to illness.
Reviewed by Gary Svoboda, September 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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