Sanctuary Hill: A Bay Tanner Mystery (Bay Tanner Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Kathryn R. Wall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bay Tanner Mysteries | Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Towering live oaks guard old secrets and powerful forces that even the spirited Bay Tanner can't control. . . .

 

A freak summer storm has Bay Tanner, sometime private investigator, cooped up with her ailing father at his antebellum mansion near Hilton Head. Desperate for a distraction, Bay recovers a cooler bobbing along on the incoming tide. What she discovers inside will plunge her into a world of ancient magic where the power of the "root" has held sway since the days of the slave row. Suddenly, mysterious people and strange incidents, including a near-fatal accident, force her to realize that she may have unleashed something she can neither understand nor escape.
            Meanwhile, her investigation into the simple case of a runaway wife turns deadly. The police are eager to nail the wealthy, prominent husband for murder, but Bay's instincts tell her there's more to the story. Sheriff's Sergeant Red Tanner, her late husband's brother, warns her off the case, but Bay's never been good at taking orders. Soon she's working full-time to defend her client, who may not be as innocent as Bay would like to believe.
            Time and again, every trail leads back to a mystical commune in the tangled backwoods of Beaufort County and to one of its leaders, a charismatic woman who believes in the real and malevolent power of the old ways. To find a killer, Bay must travel to the heart of this woman's world--and not everyone will escape the spell of Sanctuary Hill.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When brassy South Carolina PI Bay Tanner uncovers the corpse of a newborn baby in her winning seventh outing (after 2006's Bishop's Reach), her brother-in-law, who happens to be a cop, tells her in no uncertain terms to stay out of it. But Bay is convinced that the strange charm the baby girl wore around her neck is the key to determining her identity, and the identity of her parents (who may be the baby's murderers). Meanwhile, a local real estate developer has hired Bay to find his wife. When the lovely blonde turns up dead, Bay must decide whether to help clear her client of suspicion. She believes he's innocent, but his drunkenly shacking up with another woman before his wife's body is cold doesn't help his case. If that's not enough, Bay's personal life heats up, as two men bid for her attentions. Wall once again delivers credible characters, a gripping plot and pitch-perfect local color. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Bay Tanner makes a horrifying discovery when she pulls a Styrofoam cooler from the bay by her father's house during a summer storm. Her investigation into the murdered infant she finds in the cooler leads her to meet with Belle Crowder, a "root doctor" who prepares roots (or charms). Meanwhile, Bay's business, Simpson & Tanner, Inquiry Agents, is hired by Billy Dumars, a local real-estate broker, to find his wife, who disappeared with a large amount of cash and her new Mercedes. When Tracy Dumars is found dead, Billy is the chief suspect, so Bay and her associates begin working for Dumars' lawyer. Bay solves both mysteries, but not before a terrible, life-changing tragedy occurs. Bay is a principled character who looks like she may be ready to find love again. Firmly set in the hot, humid Low Country summer of Hilton Head, South Carolina, this seventh in a series is intertwined with information about the history of roots. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312362099
• ISBN-13: 978-0312362096
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,531,177 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong entertaining regional mystery, May 19, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sanctuary Hill: A Bay Tanner Mystery (Bay Tanner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

An unexpected storm socks the South Carolina Lowcountry coast stranding private investigator Bay Tanner at the home of her ailing father. Stepping outside the luxurious antebellum mansion, Bay grabs a floating cooler. When she opens it expecting inside food or drink, she is stunned to find the corpse of a newborn.

She informs Sheriff's sergeant Redmond "Red" Tanner, who also happens to be the brother of Bay's deceased husband; her in-law tells her not to investigate as he knows how her curiosity keeps the cat in trouble. She ignores his warning rant because she believes the key to identifying the mother and perhaps the killer is the strange charm the victim had around her neck. At about the same time realtor Dumars hires Bay to look for his missing wife. When the spouse is found dead her client is the prime suspect. Though she thinks he is innocent, she detests what she believes is his disrespect for the dead as he sleeps with another woman while his wife lies in the morgue. She considers dropping him as a client rationalizing that her contractual consideration was achieved when the corpse was found.

The realistic portrayals of the characters especially Bay and Red make for a strong entertaining regional mystery. Bay has several dilemmas to consider making her seem human as she suddenly has two men wanting her and a moral quandary re Dumars. Fans of the series will appreciate this superb whodunit that brings Beaufort County alive through a fully developed cast involved in two homicides.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KUDOS!!! Bay Tanner series leaves reader wanting MORE and MORE!, July 24, 2007

By 

A. Harwood "Redford lover" (Faith, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sanctuary Hill: A Bay Tanner Mystery (Bay Tanner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

For the readers of the low country sleuth Bay Tanner, this will NOT be a disappointment! Continuing her saga of suspense, surprise and a little romance, she continues the involvements of Hilton Head, Presqu'isle and Gullah characters with surprises along the way. This one is the BEST yet, leaving a desire for the immediate sequel to one of the South's leading mystery women!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Bay Tanner Mystery To Date, June 1, 2007

By 

L. Webb (Fayetteville, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sanctuary Hill: A Bay Tanner Mystery (Bay Tanner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have read all of Kathryn Wall's Bay Tanner mysteries and I think this one may be the best -- by a hair. As usual, Wall evokes the hot summer setting of the low country so completely that I experience strong cravings for sweet tea and feel overheated just reading the book. In this novel, Wall takes on racism in the Low Country, in a complex and compelling way that challenges the reader to think in new ways about old problems that die hard. This context offers Wall the opportunity to develop some likeable characters even more completely, including Lavinia Smalls, the judge's care taker, as well as Eric, Bay's partner in her detective agency. I missed Bay's more compelling romantic interests of the past, although things heating up with her brother-in-law Red evoked shock, horror, and perverse fascination. The night scenes at the compound are downright creepy -- in a good way. I read this book in two days, because I could not put it down. I loved it! In sum, I found this mystery the most realistic and compelling this far in an absolutely fascinating series. I hope there will be many more Bay Tanner mysteries to come. Are you listening, Ms. Wall? Or should I say Ms. Kathryn?