Vengeance in the Wind - Book Review

Judy Bruce’s Vengeance in the Wind is the sixth installment of her Wind Series. The series is about the protagonist, Megan Docket, a small-town attorney whose passion is estate planning, but often has to act as an attorney in tort cases between townspeople in conflict.  Invariably Docket gets drawn into murder cases as an attorney or investigative work – analogous Perry Mason. Bruce has honed her mystery writing style, producing probably the most satisfying installment of her series in this episode.

Megan Docket tries her best to live a life and keep her head above water, but she continues to be a magnet for trouble, not just minor things but serious trouble – like kidnapping and murder. In this episode, she visits the Pine Ridge Reservation and quickly becomes involved in a strange altercation with a drunk. She also leaves the reservation as a ward to a troubled young Native American.  Back home Megan is working with a community group who are making a haunted house complete with vampires, nasty spiders, and other haunted-house spooks. Unfortunately, their elaborate scary festive setting becomes a real place of horror as an actual murder turns it into a crime scene.

Megan has more to deal with when she becomes the target of a revenge drama that threatens her family and employees. Bruce adds a few red herrings into the plot, but basically, she turns up the suspense as more and more trouble rains down on Megan. Her mother is kidnapped, her husband is implicated in murder, and she has to work fast if she is going to be the heroine in this episode and save her loved ones. This is a story rich in action and many unsuspecting turn-of-events.  Who hates Megan, who wants to exact this revenge on her and how far will they go to get it?

Megan feels she is endowed with some sixth sense that warns her of impending danger. It doesn’t expose what the danger is, but she feels it and even believes that the spirit of her brother and her deceased lawyer father talks to her and guides her in these terrible times of trouble.

Megan’s past has crawled out of its grave, and she is headlong in a dance with a murderer.  Bruce unfolds other stories in Megan’s small-town, making the tale very believable.  Some people in her town know more than they’re saying, and somehow Megan is again at the center of it all.  When her husband is implicated in murder, her entire world appears to be crumbling, but when backed into a corner, she’ll do whatever it takes to survive.

If you have read other Judy Bruce’s books, you’ll probably find  Vengeance in the Wind to be her best yet. If you haven’t read previous episodes of the Wind Series, then this is a good one to start with. It isn’t necessary to read her previous novels to enjoy this installment – Vengeance in the Wind can easily stand-alone and provide all the back story needed to make it an enjoyable read.