by Patricia Sprinkle
Signet, December 2002
304 pages, $5.99
ISBN: 0451207580
MacLaren Yarbrough "Thoroughly Southern Mystery" series #4
Sixty-something Georgia Magistrate MacLaren Yarbrough and her husband, Joe Riddley, own a feed, seed and nursery in the small town of Hopemore. As they prepare for a neighbor's wedding, they witness Skell MacDonald, threaten the groom, Maynard Spence, who has just bought a used BMW from Sky's the Limit Used Cars, managed by Skell and owned by Skell's father, Skye MacDonald. It seems that Skye sold the car to Maynard and Skell wants that car back as it was promised to someone else. He is willing to give Maynard any car on his lot for it but Maynard refuses and Skell runs off in a huff.
The next morning, Skye is found dead on a muddy road, run over by his own car which is later found behind the church. Skell is still missing and his mother, Gwen Ellen, and his sister, Laura, are worried especially since the police chief takes his disappearance as an admission of guilt. Skell is implicated further when Laura discovers cash missing from the office safe.
Mac and Joe Riddley are close friends of the MacDonalds and do their best to comfort Gwen Ellen and Laura. Laura is distraught at the prospect of losing MacDonald Motors--Skye did not believe that women should be running a business even though Laura has been doing just that for years. If Skell inherits the business, Laura knows he will sell it and she doesn't have the money to buy him out.
Mac begins to have suspicions about Skell as well when Maynard and his new bride are arrested on their honeymoon for possession of drugs found in the BMW. Despite Joe Riddley's pointed insistence that she not snoop around, Mac does just that with Laura's help. Skell's assistant manager, Jimmy Branson, and Skye's new receptionist, Nicole, both appear suspicious. Skye's head mechanic also had words with Skye shortly before Skye was killed. Marilee Muller, hometown girl, now TV weather reporter, has been seen arguing with Skye and has been acting strangely since his death.
And Joe Riddley is right on insisting that Mac stay out of it because she lands herself smack in the middle of something unexpected and deadly.
Who Left That Body in the Rain? is a cozy but somewhat disturbing mystery. The characters are comfortable with themselves and with their friends and yet it is very clear that you never know what goes on in the minds of people, that you see only what people want you to see. A good book and I hope the other books in this series are equally as good since I’m going back to read them all!
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