Deeper Than the Grave

September 15, 2014
Whittle skillfully intertwines Civil War relics with modern-day re-enactors and the Darknet, “like the Internet, only without the safeguards,” in her intricate fourth mystery featuring Atlanta gun shop operator Tai Randolph (after 2013’s Blood, Ash, and Bone). Tai’s late Uncle Dexter becomes a person of interest when Tai unearths the skull of Lucius Dufrene, a man whose demise Dexter had perfect motive, means, and opportunity to execute. Trusted boyfriend Trey Seaver has installed a cache of safety and electronic surveillance equipment in her gun shop, but feisty Tai still manages to get in harm’s way. Suspects abound. Is it Richard, caretaker of the wealthy Amberdecker family grounds? Or is it some unseen mafia-type, an upstart re-enactor linked to the Darknet, or even an esteemed Amberdecker? Tai and Trey have their work cut out if they’re going to exonerate Dexter and live long enough to take their relationship to the next level.

October 15, 2014
An ill wind scatters exactly the wrong bones over Tai Randolph's suburban Atlanta neighborhood."Please please please, let the shop still have a roof," prays Tai as a tornado bears down on the gun shop she inherited from her Uncle Dexter. She's right to worry about the storm but not for the reason she thinks. Despite the contrary prayers of her meddlesome neighbor Brenda Lovejoy-Burlington, president of the Kennesaw Revitalization Commission, the shop is fine. The tornado has alighted instead on the tomb of Pvt. Braxton Amberdecker, the Confederate soldier whose remains were recovered and interred only two years ago, and scattered his bones all over the landscape. It's sad news for matriarch Rose Amberdecker and her whole family. Even worse, the most cursory examination reveals telltale clues, like the presence of a NASCAR belt buckle, that the bones aren't Braxton's at all but those of Lucius Dufrene, a convicted thief who'd worked for Dexter and slept with Rose's daughter, Chelsea, whose bridegroom, rising-star financier Jeremy Pratchett, knows nothing about the affair. A little bit of digging persuades Tai and her irresistible boyfriend, Trey Seaver, an ex-cop working for Phoenix Corporate Security, that the reason Lucius' bones ended up in Braxton's tomb has as much to do with Braxton as with Lucius. To unearth the connection between the two corpses, she'll have to tangle with Civil War re-enactors, relic traders from the Russian Mafia and a ring of thieves stealing laundry detergent. Tai's fourth (Blood, Ash and Bone, 2013, etc.) connects murders past and present-not to mention the mystery and the hot-sheets romance-with gratifying conviction.

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October 1, 2014

In her fourth outing (after Blood, Ash, & Bone) Tai Randolph has finally come to terms with running a Confederate-themed gun store in Atlanta. Her relationship with security specialist Trey Seaver is on track. But when Tai finds a skeleton that is not the corpse she was looking for in the Kennesaw Mountain underbrush, her life suddenly takes a left turn, and she encounters toxic secrets buried deep in the red Georgia clay. Tai is a likable heroine with no qualms about a little lying here, a little sleuthing there.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Atlanta resident Tai Randolph is trying to make a go of her late uncle's store, which sells Civil Warreenactment paraphernalia, memorabilia, and guns. Her work with Trey Seaver, friend and security expert, to beef up store security and complete the inventory of antique firearms for the ATF provides Trey with perspective as he approaches the anniversary of a traumatic accident. But on a stormy February day, a tornado touches down in a family cemetery on the outskirts of Atlanta, ripping up the tomb of a Civil War soldier. Tai is called to help look for artifacts and bones. Instead of the Civil War soldier, whose bones should be in the damaged tomb, Tai finds those of a reenactor, along with a key chain her uncle forged. Tai tangles with one of Atlanta's oldest families and a drug-dealing gang as she works to clear her uncle's nameand avoid meeting up with the killer desperate to hide the crime. This fifth in the series will hold fans and new readers alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)