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It was only routine. A simple assignment for private investigator Sam Blackman and his partner Nakayla Robertson. Follow a history professor who’s suing a spinal surgeon for malpractice and catch her in physical activities that undercut her claim.
When the professor, Janice Wainwright, visits Connemara, Carl Sandburg’s home in Flat Rock, N.C., and climbs the arduous trail to the top of Glassy Mountain, Sam believes he has the evidence to wrap up the case – until he finds the woman semi-conscious and bleeding on the mountain’s granite outcropping. Her final words: “It’s the Sandburg verses. The Sandburg verses.”
As the first person to discover the dying woman, Sam becomes the first suspect. Now the routine case is personal. An autopsy reveals painkillers in her blood and solid proof of the surgeon’s errors. Sam is left with the haunting questions: why did this suffering woman endure the climb to the mountaintop, and did she stumble and fall or did someone cause her death?
A break-in at the Wainwright farmhouse and the theft of Sandburg volumes convince Sam someone is seeking information worth killing for. But what did Pulitzer-Prize-winner Sandburg have in his literary collection that leads to multiple murders? And who will be targeted next?
Sam and Nakayla must navigate a convoluted trail of historical facts and mountain legends to arrive at the truth, a truth Carl Sandburg never knew he possessed, and a treasure to be had for a song.
ADVANCE STARRED REVIEW FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Sandburg Connection: A Sam Blackman Mystery
Mark de Castrique. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (298p) ISBN 978-1-59058-941-0; $14.95 trade paper ISBN 978-1-59058-943-4At the outset of de Castrique's stellar third mystery featuring Asheville, N.C., PI Sam Blackman (after 2010's The Fitzgerald Ruse), Sam and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, are following professor Janice Wainwright to determine if she's really suffering the pain that has led to her $5 million lawsuit against a surgeon, his clinic, and a hospital. The pair trail her to Glassy Mountain, from whose peak she takes a fatal fall. Before expiring, Wainwright mumbles something about "Sandburg's verses." Convinced Wainwright's death was no accident, Sam vows to find her killer. A missing folk song, a buried treasure from Civil War days, and a pregnant goat all play a part in this marvelous blend of history and mystery seasoned with information about Carl Sandburg's life and times on his Asheville farm and the National Park Service's current operations there. This strong regional mystery should resonate with a much wider audience. (Oct.)
Reviewed on: 07/29/2011
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