Deservedly Dead

It was El Azoli, whose nickname among his neighbors was something much less polite. Shirley McClintock had just flown back from a trip to Washington D.C. to deal with some property she owned there when she discovers that her Colorado world had changed while she was gone. And the cause of it was El Azoli, an easterner who has no idea how to handle western ranch property.But other things are changing around Shirley. Old friends and neighbors are passing away. Evils from the urban centers are reaching out toward her Colorado childhood home. Azoli's death could be due to having offended either the old or the new interests though. He was an equal opportunity jerk. But fate it seems is ready to play Shirley a bad hand when she is accused of this particular murder.Sheri Tepper (B. J. Oliphant and A. J. Orde), who also writes wonderful science fiction, does a great job here. Unlike some mystery writers she never loses track of the fact that a murder is an intrusion into the lives of the characters, that there are still fences to mend and meals to cook. Shirley, J.Q., and Alison do not fit in any particular mould that would be described as family on a tax form, but they clearly care deeply for one another and for the land they live on.

This literate, thought-provoking mystery features the sort of murder victim everyone loves to hate: an obnoxious Eastern invader who destroys the tranquillity of the beautiful Colorado valley where Shirley McClintock's ranch is situated. He's killed the trees, poisoned the water, built sheds with glaring tin roofs, and driven away the wildlife. And he runs a screaming scrub-clearing machine all day seven days a week. Of course, there's no shortage of suspects. Shirley is as outspoken as ever, and she voices plenty of opinions to unsettle liberals and conservatives both. B.J. Oliphant is a pseudonym of SF/fantasy author Sheri S. Tepper. This whole series is very entertaining, and so is her other series of whodunits, written under the name A.J. Orde.

Oliphant, it seems, is incapable of writing a bad or even average mystery. Each one is bubbling with opinions, suspects and jerks just waiting to be bumped off. Her novels are down home and classy, hard edged and sweet and the unusual combinations always seem to work. If you read this book, be prepared to think and not just about who dunnit.