Leona Bingham was raised in wealth and privilege in the small Mississippi town of Grenola: a town that never forgets its roots, or its scandals. Leona herself was the subject of a good deal of town scandal when she had a baby out of wedlock eight years ago.

Now Leona has a wonderful son and a law degree and she's back in Grenola trying to make a living as a sole attorney. Her father sends her clients to keep her afloat. Leona is also seeing the man she dated in high school, a man of whom her parents approve and want her to marry.

Although Leona's doing all right for herself, she's not satisfied with her life. Leona never really fulfilled the promise, academic or otherwise, she felt she had when she was younger. She barely got through school and it took her three tries to pass the bar exam.

Leona's about to take on yet another wealthy referral from her father when she receives a letter from a Robert Weldon, a convict on death row, asking for her help. Curious why Weldon wants the help of a young lawyer with no experience in criminal law, Leona goes to visit him at the Mississippi State penitentiary.

Robert tells Leona he didn't kill April Brown, a beautiful black woman who was pregnant by her white lover. He wants Leona to do the investigating because information might be uncovered that will hurt people, and he doesn't want that to happen. He believes that Leona will make sure the real murderer is fingered and that no one will get hurt in the process.

Leona knows she shouldn't take Robert Weldon's case. He could be lying and, even if he isn't, she doesn't have the resources or staff to take on his case. But somehow she equates turning her back on Weldon to turning her back on life's challenges -- something she's done all her life.

So against all odds and reason, Leona takes Weldon's case. But uncovering a trail that's over five years old is not easy. Not when everyone in Grenola, with the exception of her mother and her feisty secretary, wants Weldon to fry in the electric chair.

Not when the father of the man she's dating was the prosecutor in the Weldon case. Not when it seems like her family might know more about Robert Weldon and April Brown then they're willing to say.

Although the research concerning death penalty cases is quite good, the bottom line here is that no attorney is going to take a death penalty case without the full cooperation of her client. Leona should have insisted that Weldon disclose any information that might help his case. If he refused, she should have declined to represent him, simple as that.

When I read the first paragraph of this book, about Leona's secretary using a typewriter, I thought that the story had to have been set at least 20 years ago. There are lots of young lawyers who don't have secretaries, it’s hard to imagine a young lawyer having a secretary but no computer. How could anyone make it through law school in this decade without a computer? I couldn't.

That said, there is a fair amount to like about Southern Exposure. I truly liked the pacing of this tale. I also enjoyed the local color and background; I felt like I was getting the feel and the flavor of a small, sleepy southern town, full of secrets.

And I especially liked that the author put out a lot of good red herrings. There are lots of plausible suspects and, to her credit, Leona suspects everyone single one of them.

--Judith Flavell