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Burke Parker is found dead in a hotel room. At first, it appears that he mixed too much booze with his medicine and ended up killing himself. But then the coroner finds paraquat, a deadly herbicide, in his body, on the alcohol bottles, and in his food, leading the police to believe he was murdered. Tom Casey, also known as Hawkman, is called in to help the local police.
Three suspects are at the top of Hawkman’s list.
Lilly Parker, Burke’s wife, endured years of spousal abuse at the hands of her husband, but since she didn’t believe in ending a marriage, she hung in there even though she was having an affair with a local Native American. Finally, she got tired of Burke’s abuse and kicked him out, but he still came back, demanding she leave him the leftover bottles of alcohol she was allowed to take home from work at the bar out on the porch, along with a bag of food (especially fried chicken), or Burke would break in and beat her. Perhaps Lilly decided to get rid of Burke for good.
Maryann Parker, Burke’s daughter, who looks suspiciously Native American, has made it no secret that she hates Burke. She once shot him in the leg and threatened to shoot him again if he didn’t leave her mother alone. Maybe she decided to choose another way to do away with her father.
Madukarahat or Maduk for short, a Native American of the Shasta tribe has waited not-so-patiently for Lilly to be free of Burke. Maybe he ran out of patience—after all, he did kill a man once.
Ms. Sullivan La Pierre sure knows how to write a page-turning mystery. Although about a third of the way through Cause for Murder I had a sneaky suspicion who the murderer was, I still eagerly turned the pages to find out if I was right—and I was! If you’re looking for a light, entertaining mystery on a rainy weekend, look into Betty Sullivan La Pierre’s Hawkman Mystery Series. They’re sure to capture your attention.
