cover image The Buzzards Must Also Be Fed

The Buzzards Must Also Be Fed

Anne Wingate. Walker & Company, $18.95 (182pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-5773-9

Wingate's ( Death by Deception ) third mystery featuring Texas police chief Mark Shigata grabs the reader's interest at the start, but quickly lets go. Ex-cop Steven Hansen, framed for the murder of his wife and stepdaughter, has spent the last three years on death row. While he's en route to prison following a court hearing, a freak accident gives him the opportunity to escape. He heads for Bayport, Tex., his hometown, determined to kill Dale Shipp, the police chief who he suspects impregnated Gaylene, Hansen's stepdaughter and Shipp's natural daughter, committed the murders--and then set up Hansen. Having hitchhiked to the police station, Hansen narrowly avoids killing the wrong man, since Shigata now occupies Shipp's former office. Shigata is not only sympathetic, he offers to help Hansen. Investigating a recent, connected murder, the two enlist so many others in their cause that the reader begins to root for the villain in the spirit of fair play. A dearth of suspense further drags down this otherwise overburdened tale. (Jan.)