The Trial of Dr. Kate

A rags-to-respectability reporter, Shenandoah Coleman, heads home to Round Rock, Tenn., in 1952 to cover the trial of a childhood friend, Dr. Kate Marlow, and come to terms with her own backwoods clan’s reviled past, in this richly drawn tale of love, loyalty, and acceptance—the second of Glasscock’s four-part Round Rock series (after Little Joe). At the heart of the novel—which is as much a paean to long-gone rural culture as it is a murder mystery—is the bond of two fiercely driven women who became friends as children, despite the fact that they came from different backgrounds. “What should I do? Lay open all the old wounds?” Shenandoah asks after learning of the murder charge against Kate, an adored country doctor—and closet alcoholic—whose patient, married to Kate’s ex-boyfriend, is found dead alongside one of the doctor’s syringes. Shenandoah comes to Kate’s defense and finds herself the target of a dangerous stalker, but also begins to soften to the town she left behind—and to a widower who sparks the possibility of love. Glasscock, a retired otologist, shows a heartfelt tenderness for the flawed Kate as she faces her addiction. But he also tempers the golden-hued veneer of Southern charm and ’50s values with the bitter reality of racial bias and violence. There’s no perfect ending for Shenandoah and Kate, but their journey back—to each other, to love, and to family—is a satisfying one. (Oct.)