Is Kate’s New Husband Her Soulmate or a Killer?
Bonnie Kistler is fast becoming a sought after mystery writer. Her characters are not paper cut-outs but so real we might find ourselves thinking about someone we know. Her plots are never simple, but include so many twists and turns if we were in a car, we would be grabbing the dashboard for support.
In Shell Games she does something sure to pull us in. Four of the plot threads are pulled from current headlines. Kate Sawyer, a 70-something widow, is one of Florida’s most successful real estate developers, but is still searching for love. (The Golden Bachelorette?) While her buildings are lauded for their design and quickly fill up, they also contribute to pollution in the Gulf. (While Florida’s politicians continue to allow development, they have done little to consider environmental factors and sustainability.) When a hurricane strikes, Kate’s buildings survive, but lower income areas suffer. (Echoes of the recent Hurricane Helene.) And once elderly people have memory lapses, those around that person are quick to diagnose dementia. (Anecdotes abound.)
It’s a grand night at La Coquina, Kate’s Sarasota Mediterranean-style palazzo, built on a narrow spit of land between the gulf and the bay. She and her high school sweetheart, Charlie Mull, have just exchanged their vows and now celebrate with a who’s who of Florida’s elites. Kate’s daughter, Julie, who works in her mother’s company, KS Development, is there with her husband, Eric, an orthopedic surgeon. Kate, who manages her health as closely as she does her company, looks youthful and resplendent in a tight fitting sparkling gown. As the newlyweds leave to spend the night at a hotel near the airport before they embark on their honeymoon, a month long cruise in the South Pacific, the guests mingle and marvel as what appears to be a storybook romance.
In the limo and then in the hotel room, the Champagne continues to flow. Kate has rarely had so much to drink but Charlie’s excitement is contagious. And why shouldn’t they toast the beginning of their new life. In an instant, however, that golden future evaporates. Julie gets a call from the Tampa police asking her to get to the hotel quickly. When she asks what has happened the officer says: “She called 911. She reported a murderer. A mass murderer.”
With everything involving Kate, nothing is straightforward. Kate claims that Charlie confessed to her that he was responsible for the Tylenol murders, a notorious case that was never solved. In Chicago in September, 1982, someone tampered with capsules of the common pain reliever, contaminating them with potassium Cyanide. Seven people died. But when Julie arrives, Charlie says he never confessed to that crime and claims Kate, being very intoxicated, imagined the conversation. The police check Charlie’s alibi during the time of the murders and confirm that he was abroad, nowhere near Chicago.
Eric, who has never gotten along with Kate, is quick to take Charlie’s side. (Charlie works as a salesman at a luxury car dealership and sold Eric a Lamborghini. He introduced Charlie to Kate. Was it Charlie’s intention all along to get that access to Kate?) Greta, Eric’s sister and Julie’s friend, quickly joins Charlie’s team, along with Alex, a neurologist Eric calls to check on Kate.
Julie stays on the sidelines, refusing to believe that her mother is losing her mind when she has a front row seat every day watching her conduct business. But Julie, who never knew her father, likes Charlie, something, Kate points out is part of the strategy. Because of Kate’s wealth Charlie signed a prenup which leaves him with just La Coquina and the yacht if the marriage ends in divorce. But if Kate is declared incompetent, Charlie could have himself declared a guardian of her company and money. She tells Julie Charlie is gaslighting her, telling her something he knows isn’t true to have her viewed as unstable.
With Eric pushing to have Kate committed, Julie begins to question her own marriage. Is Eric working with Charlie to oust Kate from her own company? When Julie discovers Eric has another phone, a flip phone, Julie’s suspicions deepen.
As a hurricane hits the Sarasota area, Kate and Julie isolate together. Julie is torn. At times her mother seems in control, trying to distract Julie by discussing business. At other times, Kate seems to lose her train of thought and even puts herself in danger, opening a door during the hurricane and standing on a balcony. They get through the hurricane, but can Julie save her mother? And if her mother has to leave KS Development, can Julie run the company?
Kitler aims to write a thrilling mystery, but she also hits on issues that should be front and center. One of her previous novels, Her, Too, shined a spotlight on how women who suffered a sexual assault still struggle to be heard. With so many important plot lines in Shell Games, we can find much to focus on and fight for.
Shell Games
Bonnie Kistler
Top photo: Bigstock
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