Sidra Smart, rookie private eye, struggles to survive her own internal conflicts as she plunges into a surreal world of passion and murder. This mystery/suspense novel transports the reader to the exotic land where Texas and Louisiana meet in the middle of alligator-infested swamps, a land once inhabited by cannibalistic Indians, Jim Bowie, and Jean Lafitte, and where, today, Cajuns and cowboys are king and setting itself becomes character. Fifty-year-old Sidra Smart is not your ordinary rookie private eye. A recently divorced preacher's wife, she knows zip about running the private detective business she's just inherited from her brother. A lifetime spent up on a pedestal, inside a fishbowl before her husband's congregation has left Sid ill prepared to face the dark world of criminal investigation. But face it she does when her first client bursts in with vague flashbacks of a grisly thirty-year-old murder committed by the woman's father. Soon, Sid plunges into a surreal world of danger and intrigue where passion burns as hot as the memories of child abuse, arson and murder. The interaction between Sid, meddlesome Aunt Annie, and Cajun-speaking, rot-gut drinking mentor, George Léger, forms the core of this character-driven novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a powerful story and a great book. Sidra is a woman to be admired,
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This review is from: Dance On His Grave (Paperback)
This book introduces us to Sidra Smart. Sidra just divorced her Baptist minister husband and moved from Houston to Orange on the coast of Texas to settle her brother's estate. Her brother died and left her everything, including his business as a private investigator. Sidra is trying to put her life together, figuring out where she wants to be and who she wants to be. She's been a minister's wife since she was a teenager. Now that her children are grown and out of the house, she realizes that she has never been on her own. She has no idea what she wants to be, now that she's all grown up and has to make her own way in the world.
One morning, she arrives at her brother's office, intending to clear it out when a young woman shows up. She had hired Sidra's brother, and now that he is gone, she wants Sidra to continue her case, but this is completely out of her realm, so she tries to refer the case to another private investigator in town. Instead of taking on the case, George Leger offers to mentor her. Thus Sidra finds herself looking into a mystery that occurred when her client was a child of three. The woman, Jewel, believes that she and her sister Emma witnessed her father and two other men murder a woman. Her father then took the body to a house and dumped it, burning the house to the ground to hide the evidence. Jewel is convinced the memories she has are true, and she wants Sidra to prove that her father did murder a woman. Sidra searches for proof that these crimes were committed, and in doing so, finds out that her courage is great, her instincts amazing, but most of all, that her brother knew her better than she knew herself. Emma and Jewel are both damaged young women, and the investigation is painful for them and for Sidra. The stories of what this man did to his children are ugly, and what he tries to do to stop the investigation is just as hideous. At the same time, Sidra must find a way to make her home in Orange and come to terms with leaving her past behind. This is a powerful story and a great book. Sidra is a woman to be admired, and the two young women she helps are stunning in both their pain and the beginning of their path to healing. This is a book to put on your list of must reads. Reviewed at Bitten by Books Paranormal Fiction Review Site by Sarah B.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Texas Twist on the Mystery,
This review is from: Dance On His Grave (Paperback)
Dance on His Grave is Sylvia Dickey Smith's first in her Sidra Smart/Third Eye series. This is a mystery with a touch of paranormal, in that the protagonist has a sixth sense about things.
Sidra Smart and the other characters in the book are true to life. This is not to say they aren't larger than life, which they are, but they certainly hold true for east Texas. You could pluck just about any character from Dance on His Grave, set him or her in the real setting and they'd be right at home. Orange, Texas, is fictional, but Smith creates the town in such detail and with such love that it comes to life - vivid and believable. The protagonist of Dance on His Grave, Sidra Smart, starts off as a fish out of water, but by the end of the book, she's grown into her role as sleuth and unexpected P.I. If you like character driven mystery with a touch of fantasy, you'll most likely like this book - and will look forward to more in the series.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dance On His Grave,
By
This review is from: Dance On His Grave (Paperback)
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Though it's extremely bizarre at times and walks a line of becoming unthinkable, yet it never fully crosses that line. "Dance On His Grave" is suspenseful, engaging and anything but predictable and rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.
As a former native of the area where much of the story takes place, I think the story works because the cast of characters are quite an interesting ensemble. While each new character introduced is appealing enough to catch your eye, Sylvia Dickey Smith doesn't go into too much detail to detract from the main story or main characters. The descriptions of the place and the people and even the food are detailed enough to give the reader a good feel of the setting and atmosphere. From start to end, it is an interesting tale because the characters are unbelievable (in a good way) and it takes place in an area where anything and everything is know to happen. This area along the Sabine River as it winds its way to the Gulf of Mexico has always intrigued me. From the fantastic architecture, to the culture and people, they are all truly fascinating and Sylvia Dickey Smith paints a picture that is easy to visualize. She has a definitely unique style of writing and I was left wondering how in the world she came up with some of the things that are exposed in "Dance On His Grave." This story totally captures the hot, sultry mood of Orange, Texas, and goes at that pace - any faster and the heat would have caused a melt down. This book is a thrill-ride a minute. Cliff Johnson Author, Wrong Side of the River
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