Product Description

Leaving the big city and coming back to South Carolina was the best thing attorney Tal Jefferson ever did. Even though she's still haunted by the ghosts of her past, she's finally given up the booze and started letting the tranquility of her hometown work its way through her veins. But her life is thrust back into turmoil when she and a high school acquaintance make a gruesome discovery in the Wynnton River. A man has been murdered-and soon, he's identified as the estranged husband of Tal's fierce-hearted secretary, June Atkins. In a town full of racism and self-delusion, Tal will have to clear June's name and save them both from a murderer who'll do anything to save himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2323272 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Dunham's worthy sequel to Wishful Sinful (2004), attorney Tal Jefferson is still trying to escape her past—her flameout in the big city after losing a capital case and her tendency to bury her sorrows in a bottle. She's back home in Wynnton, S.C., making a meager living and being watched over by her tough-as-nails office manager, June Atkins. But when Tal and childhood friend Travis Whitlock fish a severed head from the Wynnton River, Tal and June are thrown into a firestorm of racism, thievery and murder. The head, it turns out, belongs to June's estranged husband. When a second body turns up near the Whitlock farm, both the authorities and vicious thieves with nothing to lose target Tal and June. Tal is a superb mix of hard edges and open wounds, a weary fighter trying to redeem herself whatever the cost. While Tal is sure she deserves no happy ending, readers will stick with the series to prove her wrong. (Dec.)
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About the Author
Tracy Dunham is the author of Wishful Sinful as well as several historical novels.

Customer Reviews

superb legal thriller
Once she was a high powered defense attorney in the big city riding high until she lost a case that she should have won. Her client was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Unable to cope with the results, Tal Jefferson returns to her hometown where she does probate, wills and defend DUIs.

While she and renowned artist Travis Whitlock are looking at the Wynnton River, they see a head float on by. The retrieved head is that of Daryl, the estranged husband of Tal's secretary June Atkins. A gun in June's possession turns out to be the murder weapon; Tal once again defends a client in a murder investigation. Matters turn strange when one of Tal's other clients is charged with a hit and run; Ike says he lent his truck to a friend. The truck contains the body of Ike's wife but what links the murders is that Ike is June's lover. Tal believes the two killings were committed by the same person and if she finds him it will exonerate June. She takes some perilous risks to prove her friend is innocent.

During Tal's latest case, she learns some home truths about herself and what she needs to be happy. Readers will care for this ditzy but clever legal eagle who takes insane risks to make sure that her client is not convicted of a crime she didn't do. The murder mystery is well constructed with a false lead that is so convincing readers will believe that the wrong man is the killer just the way the author intends for us to be fooled. Tracy Dunham is a talented author who will have legal thriller fans valuing her work.

Harriet Klausner

Yes, The River Knows
Really enjoyed the second book as much as Ms. Dunham's first in this series. Hope there's a third book in the future.