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Readers & Writers Ink Reviews

CLEAR AND CONVINCING PROOF
By Kate Wilhelm
Contemporary Mystery
August 2003
Mira
ISBN: 1-55166-697-9

Kate Wilhelm's CLEAR AND CONVINCING PROOF provides another exciting battleground for her Oregon-based attorney, Barbara Holloway.

When Erica Castle inherits a house in Oregon from her mother, it's a dream come true. At last she can escape her humdrum life in the Midwest and make a new start. Unfortunately, the house turns out to be a neglected eyesore needing far more renovation than Erica can afford. A mortgage to finance repairs would be just the thing but she'll need references. Volunteer work at the prestigious Kelso/McIvey rehabilitation center seems a great place to meet important people who might provide those references.

A small non-profit, the Kelso/McIvey rehab center is a source of pride for its staff of dedicated medical personnel and a place of hope and healing for patients.  But the political bickering of staff and the board of directors threatens to destroy the center and perhaps a few careers.

Physical therapist Darren Halvord is a talented and charismatic healer with a shady past who has become the mainstay of the clinic. David McIvey is a brilliant surgeon with a monumental ego and a grand plan for the clinic -- a plan that definitely does not include Halvord. David's wife, Annie, a beautiful woman dominated by her husband, has plans of her own -- which may or may not include Halvord. Directors Naomi and Greg Boardman and Thomas Kelso just want to save their lifelong dream of continuing the clinic.

David McIvey wants to convert the non-profit center into a financially successful surgical hospital headed by himself. It would be the end of the clinic and of Halvord's reign as the well-loved primary caregiver. The impending death of a major shareholder is about to alter the balance of power and provide McIvey with the means to take over the center. While the board members seek legal and financial ways to prevent the takeover, someone decides to settle the matter once and for all by murdering McIvey.

Although no one has yet been charged with the crime, Barbara Holloway is called upon to defend the two most likely suspects, Annie McIvey and Darren Halvord. While Barbara and her cadre of assistants gather information for the defense, she begins to suspect there's more to this crime than meets the eye. When an employee of the clinic is murdered after talking with Barbara, there's nothing for it but to circumvent the police and investigate the murders herself.

It's the tried and true method of investigation: How was the crime committed, where were all the suspects at the crucial time and whose alibi can be broken. Wilhelm tells us everything we need to know, dangling the real possibility that any one of the suspects could have done it, but doesn't reveal all until the final pages.

Wilhelm's spare, concise prose manages to convey all the pent-up fears and emotions of her characters and draws the reader wholeheartedly into their lives. It's impossible to read this story and not feel a sense of loss for the victims and even a touch of sympathy for the murderer.

CLEAR AND CONVINCING PROOF is a classic mystery with a cast of continuing and thoroughly likeable characters. Barbara Holloway fans will love this one.

  --  Reviewed by Elizabeth Waye
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