Fowl Play

Westfall's first novel reads more like a treatise on Appalachian lifestyles than a mystery, but it's an interesting diversion nonetheless. Molly West, 52, still an outsider after 15 years in Appalachian Ohio, helps direct the Meal Van program and is an obsessive list-maker. After hearing about a murder on the local news, she is shocked to learn from her neighbor, Sheriff John Matins, that the suspect is a friend, Dave Breyers, and the victim is his ex-wife, Cathy. Believing Dave innocent, Molly finds an unlikely ally in elderly Louella Chalmers Benton, a client on the Meal Van run with relations throughout the county. With guidance from husband Ken, a local college professor specializing in Appalachian culture, and tips from Louella, Molly discovers that Cathy was involved in a series of illegal cockfights and financial dealings with several good ol' boys. Molly's labors allow her to shorten her list of likely murderers, which includes Tom Powers, a prosperous chicken farmer, and Porter Wilton-Jones (aka Wrongbutton), a deejay. It all leads to an ultimately disappointing conclusion to a book distinguished more by its amusing characters and tender renderings of rural life than by any suspense. (Nov.)