The CFBA Tour for the final week in September features Dangerous Mercy by Kathy Herman. The second suspense novel in the three-book Secrets of Roux River Bayou Series, Dangerous Mercy takes place in the fictional small town of Les Barbes, Louisiana, where the Cajun food, music, and talk provide all kinds of entertainment for tourists.
The story focuses most of its attention on the displaced wealthy 86 year old Adele Woodmore who moved to smaller accommodations in Les Barbes from her huge estate in Alexandria when aging demanded it. Choosing this little town because of her attachment to a young family that runs Zoe B's restaurant, she's the godmother to Zoe and her husband's little girl Grace who provides her with great enjoyment when she's able to watch the toddler. However, when murders start happening in Les Barbes and Adele refuses to quit using two men from Father Vince's halfway house as handyman and groundskeeper, Grace's visits come to a halt and Adele and her live-in assistant part ways.
Not too much effort is given to hiding the murderer of the five victims although suspicion is aimed in another direction, but it takes over three-quarters of the story for any information to surface. An FBI Profiler is brought in from New Orleans while Adele hires her much-used private investigator to screen the two men to whom she gives the odd jobs. When the report comes back, in spite of all the news stories that have circulated on TV and via the talk of the townspeople, Adele, an intelligent character, brushes aside the information as not incriminating which seemed odd to me.
This is a southern suspense novel with little inserts of character sketches and conflicts related to the men from the halfway house infused with Adele's desire to show mercy and friendship to those who've had difficult lives. A couple of times situations proved a tad too convenient to serve the plot, but for those who enjoy an easy to read, mellow suspense with a spunky but naive octogenarian as the main character, Dangerous Mercy will satisfy you. For those who like tidy endings, Dangerous Mercy will give you that. For those who like to wrestle with when and how and to whom mercy should be shown, Dangerous Mercy will give your mind plenty of exercise.
Father, please continue to bless and supply Kathy with more stories to tell. May she honor you in all she does. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.