Out the Summerhill Road by Jane Roberts Wood

This is not the kind of book I would ordinarily have read, but it is set in East Texas, is written by a Texan, and I thought I might review it for TexasLive, a magazine I do book reviews for. It is a mystery, sort of, but mainly it is a story of friendship between women of a certain sort in a certain place--the almost Old South gentility in East Texas. In that sense, it is a novel of manners, with a good bit of the conversation taking place around the bridge table, between the luncheon of asparagus soup and salad and homemade roles (prepared by the black maid) and the after-bridge glasses of sherry.

The mystery is provided by two murders. The first, in 1946, is of one of a group of four friends when they are seniors in high school. Because he leaves town a few days later without graduating, a local high school boy is suspected by the whole town.

Skipping forward to 1980, the remaining three friends have added another fourth, the Irish widow of a home-town boy. When they hear rumors that the suspected boy has returned to town, each woman reacts differently, some harboring secrets that they have kept since 1946. And then another murdered woman is found, one of the four.

The solution of the mystery did not come as a surprise to me, but then, that was not really the primary focus of the book. It is more an examination of friendship, and life choices, and resilience even as actions fly in the face of a culture.

This was a pleasant read, even though a slight one. The action in 1980 is all in present tense, which presents itself as somewhat awkward and strange. A digression of one section into the 1960s (in past tense) seemed unnecessary and mostly filler. It had a pretty unrealistic "happily ever after" ending (except for the dead woman, of course).

I could recommend this to those who like idealized stories of women's friendship and those who know and love East Texas.