The Last To Remember - An Avalon Mystery [Hardcover]

Joyce Lavene (Author), James Lavene (Author), Jim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2001

On one of the stormiest, busiest night of the year, a prominent businessman stumbles into the sheriff's office, confessing to a 40-year-old murder. Just a few hours later he's found hanging from the ceiling of the conference room. The district attorney is soon on the warpath and all the clues point to one man.

Sheriff Sharyn Howard begins to search for the key to unlock a secret shared by three men for forty years. A district court judge, a prominent businessman, and her own deputy, Ernie Watkins, believe that they were responsible for a child's death at the old Jefferson Training School for Boys when they were just teenagers.

But now someone is after all the men, and it's up to Sheriff Howard to unravel 40 years of cover-ups, blackmail, lies, and guilt. But with so many suspects and such little time, can she find the real killer before an innocent man is convicted of murder or before the real killer can stalk and kill his prey?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joyce and Jim Lavene are the co-authors of over twenty novels, numerous articles and short stories. They have a passion for back roads, small towns, and looking for the extraordinary in everyday life. They live in North Carolina with their children, Chris, Jeni and Emmie and their grandchildren, Eric and Gabrielle.

The Last to Remember is their third mystery for AVALON.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Bouregy & Co (April 24, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803494688
• ISBN-13: 978-0803494688
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, August 22, 2002

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last To Remember - An Avalon Mystery (Hardcover)

Forty years ago the Jefferson Training School housed boys who went astray in an attempt at rehabilitating them and preventing them from receiving a jail sentence. The boys became rough, and came out of the school even tougher and meaner than when they arrived. The bigger kids picked on the smaller kids. One night two boys got carried away and hit Michael Smith in the back of the head and rolling him in a ditch. When they thought he was dead, they buried him. Years later, a boy's skeleton has been hung from the rugged wooden cross in front the old church at the training school.

When an unexpected blizzard turns North Carolina hazardous, cutting off power and transportation Sheriff Sharyn Howard doesn't expect Beau Richmond to burst into the door of the sheriff's office screaming his guilt. Beau is one of Diamond Spring's leading citizens. His charitable awards and good deeds are legendary. Despite his confused and distraught demeanor, Beau declares his guilt regarding the death of Michael Smith forty years ago. An hour later, deputies find Beau hanging from a corner beam, a chair knocked out from under his feet. Further examination proves Beau suffocated after he hung himself, and his neck wasn't broken. Chances are that someone murdered him right there in the conference room of the sheriff's office.

Sharyn knows first hand how quickly an investigation can go astray and charge the wrong man with a crime. Before her officers come under further scrutiny, she must discover the truth of a small boy's death forty years ago, and how it leads not only to Beau Richmond. Further, Sharyn finds herself embroiled in the political shenanigans of DA's office while trying to protect her own office staff.

THE LAST TO REMEMBER by the writing team of Joyce and Jim Lavene create a twisting plot of deception and murder that will keep the page turnings. The characters present themselves realistically; they are normal people with extraordinary secrets. Further, the character development regarding Sheriff Sharyn Howard continues to evolve, promising interesting revelations in sequels. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting readying, May 4, 2011

By 

Eleanor - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Last To Remember - An Avalon Mystery (Hardcover)

This is another book in the series by this author. To get the full enjoyment by this author about the information in this series, you need to start with the first one and read to the last one. I really hated to see it come to a close. A person gets familiar with the characters and when you finish the last book, that is the end if your relationship with the characters. As you can probably tell, I get personally involved with the books I read.