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'Discovering The Body' by Mary Howard

Books in Brief

Sunday, November 19, 2000

By Pohla Smith, Post-Gazette staff writer

	Discovering The Body By Mary Howard William Morrow $24.00

This is no ordinary debut and certainly no ordinary mystery: The victim is long ago found, buried and much mourned. The murderer is tried, convicted and imprisoned.

Or is he?

Two years ago, Linda Garbo was sure she saw the murderer at the scene of the crime against her close friend, Luci Cole. Sure enough to provide the testimony that sent Peter Garvey to prison. She is, after all, a trained observer, a graphic designer and printmaker.

Now she is not so convinced.

Neither is a pony-tailed young man who seems to be following her, sparking misgivings and anxiety attacks that are affecting her marriage to beekeeper Charlie Carpenter, who was the victim’s former lover.

Garbo finally confronts the pony-tailed man and discovers he is John Bender, a reporter who covered the trial and who is picking at loose ends after getting a letter from convicted Garvey proclaiming his innocence.

The meeting with Bender prompts Garbo to pay her own visit to Garvey, who sets her looking for a diary he says the victim wanted her to see.

When she does find it, there are only more puzzles. Is this fact, fiction or a little bit of both?

The plot is intricate, fascinating, and the writing is lyrical. One hopes for more from Mary Howard.