TraceTracks
Larry Rochelle
Zumaya Publications

Recommended

Palmer Morel hears the telephone ring in is Kansas City home, then the answer machine clicks on. The hoarse menacing voice Morel hears is not filled with good news. Thirty nine year old Morel and his twenty six year old sweety Corky Kennedy are set to leave on a trip to Tennessee. The tennis playing Morel will take part in the Memphis Open.

Their trip to Memphis begins with a red Mustang following them and an attempt on their lives. Things do not get better once the pair reach Tennessee. Their motel is filled with hazards. A peculiar group of police and bad guys alike appear at every turn. A long dead Natchez Trace desperado figures in the tale And finally explorer Merriweather Lewis is added to the mix.

Writer Rochelle presents an entertaining albeit at times irritating narrative in his "Tracetracks". The characters Writer Rochelle has crafted are too true to life. I found myself wanting to shake a little sense into both Corky and her nit wit honey Morel. Why two grown adults would set off in the middle of the night with the full realization that they are being followed, and would then stop their vehicle on a dark deserted road in an area they do not know to confront the ones following them is hard to fathom. On the other hand, I have a relative who does that very thing.

Once the pair reach Memphis and begin to have problems in their motel of choice they do not move, again this is hard to fathom, again, I have know folks who do behave in this manner, so I'll not fault writer Rochelle. I do hope in the next in the series that both Corky and Morel have developed a little more common sense.

Writer Rochelle has taken an intriguing premise: booty buried on the Natchez Trace by 1800s bad guy Murrell and has crafted a highly readable work filled with entertaining quirky characters, gritty dialogue and lots of intrigue. The twists and turns of plot are enjoyable and characters are well developed albeit a tad dopey at times.

Entertaining read. I look forward to the next in the series.