As Molly prepares herself to listen to a story she has heard countless times, designed to encourage legislators to vote for passage of the bill, she notices Olin Crocker, a man she despises. Crocker was sheriff twenty-eight years ago when her father died. He ruled her father’s death a suicide, but Molly has always felt her father had been murdered, and Crocker had been paid to list suicide as the cause of death.

The scent of new evidence drives Molly into probing the circumstances surrounding her father’s death one more time. Her obsession with his death has ruined her marriage and caused her untold guilt about her failed attempts to be a proper mother to her now grown daughter, Jo Beth, but like a festering sore, she cannot leave it alone.

Ms. Walker has chosen an interesting method of relating two of the subplots in her latest Molly Cates saga. Molly’s investigation into her father’s death and her coverage of the handgun legislation are told in the past tense. (In the third person, but in essence, Molly’s point of view.) The activities of the homeless women, especially the perambulations of Sarah Jane Hurley, a.k.a. Cow Lady, is told in the present tense, and again, though told in the third person, reflects Sarah Jane’s viewpoint. I’m not really sure what purpose this change of tense serves as eventually the two stories merge and the author must tell part of Molly’s story in the present tense.

The plot itself engages the reader’s interest readily enough to keep the pages turning, but pales in comparison to the character study that emerges of Molly, primarily, but Sarah Jane’s personality and past life are treated in some depth as well. The supporting characters are well enough fleshed out to give the reader insight into their views of life. These are not stereotypes and they are not perfect people.

A most revealing scene includes Molly and Sarah Jane, where because of her disheveled state, Molly is mistaken for a bag lady. She thought she empathized with the plight of the homeless, but being treated as one adds another dimension to her understanding. Molly learns the real meaning of the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” as she learns more about her father’s death. Sarah Jane, who initially seems either too consumed by her love of alcohol, or too mentally ill to cope with the world, shows a surprising strength of character later on in the book. As her past is revealed, one can see why she escaped into a fantasy of nursery rhymes - yet, almost against her will, she maintains contact with reality. Mary Willis Walker has produced a number of very strong women in All the Dead Lie Down.

This novel was originally published in hardcover in 1998, but just recently released in paperback. Perhaps the long time period means hardcover sales were so good, there was no need to hurry with a paperback. Or, perhaps, since Ms. Walker is such a meticulous writer, she demands more time for the production of her next effort. I hope since All the Dead Lie Down is now out in paperback, a new Molly Cates is in the offing in hardcover. I applaud her determination to produce a novel of exceptional quality, but it is hard to wait for the next one.

--Andy Plonka