Water's Edge by Robert Whitlow

It is always fun for me, as a south Alabamian transplanted north to Kentucky, to read books with "southernisms" that are realistic.  In this book is a character who likes okra and knows that collard greens are improved by the addition of vinegar; another character is named "Junior Jackson" and even the people who work with him every day don't know his "real" name.  This only happens in the REAL south. These go beyond the typical "ya'll" that some authors throw into a story to give it what they think is a good southern flavor.  

Water's Edge is about a young attorney, Tom Crane, who went from Atlanta to his small town home town to close down his father's law practice shortly after the father's unexpected death.  What should be a fairly simple, though tedious, task turns into a plunge down a slippery slope of questions that don't seem to have answers.  Why is there an empty file folder for the client who was drowned at the same time as his father?  Was that man, in fact, a client or just a fishing buddy?  If he was a client why was there no written record of an agreement between them or of any sort of payment made?  Was this "client" involved in illegal activities?  Was he trying to involve Tom's father?  Or, could there possibly be any truth to the "hints" of the District Attorney who seems to indicate that he believes Tom's father may have murdered the "client" before he, himself, drowned?  This, of course, was absolutely impossible considering the kind of man Tom knew his father to have been.  But, was he really that man?

Add into the mix the following:  Tom losing his job during the meeting when he thought he would be offered a partnership in the firm,  Tom's girlfriend "dumping" him unexpectedly AND taking his cat with her, an aged uncle who has a study that is off limits to Tom, a former girlfriend who wishes she had married Tom instead of his best friend, a near death experience during a rafting excursion, and apparent rope burns on the neck of one of the drowned men, and you have puzzles enough to keep Tom's head spinning as he tries to find answers to the many questions that keep him searching when what he really wants to do is just close everything up and go back to Atlanta.  Then there is the day Tom spends the morning reading his father's Bible and taking notes; and he comes away with a different perspective than he ever expected to have.  What difference will that make on the issues?

I've enjoyed every Robert Whitlow book I've read and this one didn't disappoint me either.  Just released two weeks ago, Water's Edge is a pleasant addition to his other books.  There are mystery and intrigue, and a plot   with enough twists and turns that I didn't have it figured out by the end of the second chapter.  :-)  It was written in such a way that, although I guessed and wondered about a couple of things,  the ending was kept unknown until almost the very end.  I like that.

If you enjoy a good murder mystery with more mystery than murder you'll enjoy Water's Edge.  The plot is believable (if "professional" people really do sometimes kill other people in cold blood in order to hide a crime they have committed).  The characters are realistic.  The "good guys" demonstrate a high standard of morality, integrity, and ethics in their personal as well as professional lives.  They struggle with some issues, including sin sometimes. but they  do struggle instead of making excuses to do anything they can think to do.  The Christians in the story demonstrate walking with Christ and making godly decision without being preachy; and they show that there is more to the Christian life than just tacking a Bible verse onto whatever we do or say.

So, if you want murder without gore, mystery without terror, Christians without hypocrisy, integrity winning over deception, a little romance, a plot with various legal ramifications all thrown into a story that honors Jesus' name and demonstrates a life that is dependent on His leading, you have found just what you want.  Robert Whitlow is one of four authors whose books I grab the minute they hit the shelf.  Water's Edge is, as I said, his latest.  It is a well written, engaging story that kept my attention from the first page to the last.  I hope you'll read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy Reading  :-)