Dr. Roland Ruiz de Castillo has drowned in a vat of radioactive water at the University of the Keys Nuclear Reactor. The university administration insists that the death was an accident, while some employees believe it must have been a suicide. Annabelle suspects that Dr. Castillo may have been the victim of foul play. When Annabelle herself becomes the target of deadly pranks, suspicion hardens into conviction that Dr. Castillo was murdered.

Annabelle and Dave investigate leads. (Although Dave's break-in at the nuclear reactor facility mystified me: why do they have to break into a facility where they have the security contract and a legitimate right to be there?) During their investigation, in spite of Dave's misgivings, Annabelle begins to develop a romantic attachment to Dr. Lon Berlin, another scientist at the nuclear facility.

This mystery is a mass of contradictions: quirky, well-defined characters but little character development; strong descriptive setting that doesn't figure much in the story; a technology-influenced plot where technology isn't all that important, and loads of red herrings strewn along the way.

Hialeah Jackson is a pseudonym for mystery-writer Polly Whitney. The Alligator's Farewell has all the signs of a mystery series-on-the-make. Annabelle has far more complexity than this single book can explore: her disability, the untimely death of her young husband, her educational background that's in stark contrast to her livelihood. Dave the Monkeyman (there's got to be a story there) is described as eccentric to say the least (there are hints that he might be gay), but in this book his behavior is quite conventional. Presumably all this is setting up further adventures to come.

As much potential as the characters of Annabelle and Dave may hold, the plot of The Alligator's Farewell was quite humdrum. There's a lot of speeding down Florida roads, exploring local sights, interviewing more oddball characters, but there is little forward motion in solving the mystery.

The author is quite successful in defining characters, but the plot doesn't build on this foundation. In one scene, Annabelle and Dave are interviewing Dr. Castillo's widow. The grieving widow refuses to speak English so Dave must translate the Spanish into English into sign language. The description of this process is treated as having more significance than any information the two investigators uncover. Likewise, the threats on Annabelle's life seem to be counter-productive: they only confirm Dave's and her suspicions, and her resulting death would stimulate further investigation, not terminate it. The bad guys should be smarter than that.

It is undoubtedly readers' affection for the characters that sustain series. The author has endowed these characters with a vast array of uncommon attributes, but, with the exception of Annabelle's deafness, these characteristics don't seem to have much influence on their thoughts or actions. They wouldn't behave much differently if they were "just plain folks" with no noticeable quirks at all. Any sentimental attachment by readers to these characters will have to wait on any future books.

--Lesley Dunlap