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Perdition House: A Bay Tanner Mystery [Hardcover]

Kathryn R. Wall (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


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Book Description

May 30, 2003 Bay Tanner Mysteries
From the ashes of the past, a voice cries out for justice...

Still recovering both physically and emotionally from the brutal murder of her husband, financial consultant Bay Tanner finds herself enmeshed in crime when a shirttail cousin Mercer Mary Prescott drops disastrously into her life.

Jailed for vagrancy, Mercer appeals to Bay’s father, a wheelchair-bound retired judge. Vulnerable one moment, sly and secretive the next, the scruffy young woman seems obsessed with the history of Bay’s aristocratic family. Her prying is interrupted, however, when she is hauled from the Judge’s antebellum mansion and charged with trespassing at a nearby nuclear facility.

Bay’s relief at the departure of her meddlesome cousin is short-lived as a procession of dangerous characters come gunning for Mercer, now on the run after escaping from her police escort. When Bay’s housekeeper is viciously attacked, she launches her own search, enlisting the aid of computer wizard Erik Whiteside and her brother-in-law, sheriff’s deputy Red Tanner. As the body count rises and Bay finds herself confronted by a group of ruthless anti-nuke fanatics, only Mercer can explain the connection between the terrors of the present and the long-buried secrets of Perditon House.

Like the two previous Bay Tanner novels, Perdition House is an original and complex mystery filled with the breathtaking beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry and the unique social customs of a Southern aristocracy still clinging tenaciously to its traditions.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps only a Southerner would credit the claim of kinship from a "half fifth cousin," especially one whose introductory phone call comes from the county jail where she's charged with vagrancy. But Lydia Baynard Simpson Tanner, better known as "Bay," does, with serious consequences, in Wall's third Low Country (South Carolina) mystery (after 2002's And Not a Penny More). With a rich family history and some wealth to go with it, Bay is still coming to terms with her husband's murder. Bay and her father, retired judge Talbot Simpson, and Erik Whiteside, a young computer whiz, operate Simpson & Tanner Inquiry Agents, a kind of quasi-detective agency. Bay's "shirttail" cousin, Mercer Mary Prescott, comes with a lot of baggage, baggage that will endanger them all. Abandoned by her mother, raised by foster parents, married (maybe) at a young age to a violent man, Mercer is a powder keg. Bay will make some surprising discoveries about the family tree and find some unexpected strengths in some of its members. Wall nicely blends the manners and mores of the aristocratic Southern tradition with more modern sensibilities, creating in Bay Tanner a woman who's equally at home in the tea room or out jogging. Despite a somewhat sprawling plot and less than scintillating prose, fans of cozier regional mysteries will be well pleased.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In her third adventure, widowed former accountant Bay Tanner bails her unknown distant cousin Mercer Mary Prescott out of jail and brings her to her father's coastal South Carolina mansion. Later, Mercer is rearrested for trespassing and destruction of federal property stemming from an antinuclear demonstration she attended. While being returned to Columbia, South Carolina, Mercer ingeniously escapes, leading Bay on a chase to find her wayward cousin. Bay realizes Mercer is involved in something far more serious than participating in a peaceful demonstration when her housekeeper is brutally attacked and Bay herself is almost assaulted. Molded by her privileged background, the uncomfortable relationship she had with her now-deceased mother, and her husband's recent murder, Bay is a strong, likable character, and the first-person point of view lends immediacy to a fast-paced story filled with fascinating plot twists. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (May 30, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312313853
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312313852
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,450,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Like many of you, I found turning 50 more than a little traumatic. It suddenly dawned on me that, if I ever hoped to realize my goal of becoming a published writer, I needed to get cracking. Fortunately, that "ugly" birthday coincided with my husband's and my early retirement to South Carolina. With the pressure of my accounting business behind me (although I still get a little twitchy around April 15), I set out to chase my dream.

It took nine months (hmmm...?)to complete "In For a Penny," the first Bay Tanner mystery, and much longer than that to get it published. You can read about that whole odyssey on my Web site. Now, with several books in print, I have come to appreciate how very fortunate I've been because there aren't many people who get to realize their childhood fantasies. So if you've ever had a dream, and earning a living or raising a family has kept you from pursuing it, go for it now. It's never too late.

When I'm not hunched over my keyboard, I try to resurrect my tennis game and read voraciously, even in the kitchen. My philosophy? Why waste all that time while you're waiting for things to boil? I love working in the local schools to encourage kids to write, and I've been a mentor for more than eight years. I used to list travel as one of my favorite pastimes; but, now that we live on our island paradise, we don't seem to have much incentive to leave. I have come to a deep appreciation of the beauty and grace of the South Carolina Lowcountry, and I hope that love shines through in all the Bay Tanner mysteries.

The business of being an author takes up a lot of time, too. When I was yearning after a writing career, I never fully understood how much time and money would have to be expended on marketing and promotion. I do dozens of signings, speaking engagements, conferences, and appearances every time a new book comes out. In addition, I've been a Kids Love a Mystery representative and been in charge of the Eastern Region of the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. I'm currently the treasurer of that chapter. I've spent two terms as National Publicity Chair of Sisters in Crime, including being heavily involved in the planning for their 20th Anniversary celebration in 2006.

Did that sound like complaining? A little, I guess, but it all comes with the terriotry of being a published writer, and I wouldn't change that for anything. I'm doing something I love, and you can't ask for much more than that. Life is good.

 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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4 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Perdition House, July 21, 2003
By 
jo williams (Hilton Head Island, SC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Perdition House: A Bay Tanner Mystery (Hardcover)
Kathryn Wall is destined to become one of the great mystery writers of our time. I've gotten so I can hardly wait for the next Bay Tanner adventure to hit the stands. Unlike some popular female sleuths, Bay is no ditz, no wilting violet looking up beneath her lashes to glean her clues from some macho male. She's sexy, funny, gutsy, and savvy--the kind of woman you'd love to have as a best friend. Bay Tanner makes me laugh out loud, a rare and delightful treat. And Wall's skilled plotting and scintillating prose keeps me turning pages. I think her latest episode with her arrant "distant cousin," Mercer Prescott,is her best work yet.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Author, July 29, 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I recently discovered this author and am enjoying very much her mystery books!
As both some of my paternal AND my maternal ancestors were originally from
the Carolinas, I am really enjoying the opportunity to read the books by
this native of South Carolina.
I am looking forward to reading more books by the author.
And I have one other comment and that is the struggle, the main character,
Bay is having breaking her smoking habit as I, too, am trying very hard
to end the nasty habit!!! Never thougth I would find a book written
so recently in which the major character would be constantly trying to
break that habit!!!
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4.0 out of 5 stars This was an excellent reader, January 5, 2009
By 
Western Lady (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
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I was appropriately brutal in my review of "Judas Island" and after reading that one, I let "Perdition House" lie around for a few months. I was pleasantly suprised at this book. It was exactly what I look for in crime mysteries. It was complicated with mysterious characters and our lead character was focused. There was merely a smattering of that simpering murdered husband blues routine (that was like a Dr. Phil miniseries in Judas), and the tedium of romantic, foreign pursuits was held to a minumum. Bravo, this was a solid crime novel. Very well orchestrated plot, crime, bad guys, and the mysterious victims added a nice flavor to the composition.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I HAD NO IDEA when we set up our informal inquiry agency that one of the first clients my father and I would have would be one of my own shirttail relations. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
half fifth cousin
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mercer Mary Prescott, Buddy Slade, Jack Wilson, Bill Scoggins, Erik Whiteside, Hilton Head, Savannah River Site, Honea Path, South Carolina, Vesta Scoggins, Law Merriweather, Catherine Prescott, Gilly Falconer, Miss Bay, Bay Tanner, Beaufort County, Department of Energy, Deputy Bell, Diet Coke, Fig Tree, Lavinia Smalls, Miss Addie, Sarah Tanner, Civil War, Herbert-Hanson Clinic
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