A Homicide in Hooker's Point

As a quintessential storyteller at the top of her form, Gloria Taylor Weinberg delves into the sometimes painful realities of life to produce a hauntingly unforgettable novel. In the fall of 1950, eight-year old Vicki Leigh Bayle learns that prejudice is not always about color, and that truth, as adults define it, is malleable. She learns that love and hate are drawn from the same well, and that some of the people she loves most keep stores of each in equal measure. The day after neighbor Eric Magruder kills her kitten during a domestic dispute, Vicki and her father watch as Eric is gunned down in their front yard. Witnesses say he was killed by his father-in-law. But is that really what happened during that tragic weekend of violence? At least one investigator has doubts. Both Vicki and her father had access to a gun that day, and her father refuses to produce it. Why? A Homicide in Hookers Point is a fascinating tale of innocence and pathos colliding in a small community in rural South Florida. The story develops inexorably; building momentum as it evolves, all the while tempting the reader to linger over passages of lush, evocative imagery. I was struck by the authors insightful portrayal of people and places, which brought back fond memories of the simple, authentic life experiences that I had growing up in Clewiston near Hookers Point. -- Erik C. Larsen, Attorney, Winter Park, Florida.