Dead End
By Judith Skillings

    Rebecca Moore, an investigative journalist in Washington D.C., escapes to rural Maryland after her lover, David, commits suicide in her bedroom. Moore is shaken by the tragic death and wants to start a new life. She has inherited her late Uncle Walt’s classic automobile restoration shop and relocates to a small town in Maryland to run the shop and start a more sedate, drama-free existence.

   However, life in a small town is not what Moore anticipated. Shortly after her settling in, a body turns up in her restoration shop – the body of Graham Stuck, an owner of another local restoration shop and Moore’s direct competitor. An investigation ensues locally, although a sexy cop from out of town appears on the scene, asking questions of Moore, and having a puzzling interest in Moore’s past and present. Moore quickly finds her own life in danger, while simultaneously having to convince the local sheriff that neither she nor her employees are responsible for Stuck’s brutal death.

      Dead End is an entertaining whodunit, replete with ex-cons, murders, arsonists, Rolls-Royce and Bentley motorcars, and quirky local residents who make it their business to know everything about everybody. The writing is concise and peppered with dry wit that adds to the enjoyment. However, the author veers off course by potentially implicating too many characters as potential suspects, which tends to cloud the plot and makes the reading experience arduous at times. Dead End is Skillings’ debut novel and this reviewer anticipates that the quality of the writing will improve in subsequent novels.