Greentown (cdn)

In examining the still-unsolved 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxleyin a wealthy suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, first-time author Timothy Dumas does not attempt to deliver a knockout punch of new evidence that might crack the case wide open. Instead, Dumas takes his readers on a literate excursion through the darkest secrets and fears of the girl's neighbors and fellow townspeople as they attempt to cope--first with the murder itself, and then with the helplessness of almost a quarter century of frustration as the case remains unsolved. It's not that most people in town don't have any clue who performed the crime, Dumas shows, but that a moat of distance lies between the killer and those who would punish such a crime, a distance mainly built on the power, money, and political connections of the wealthy Skakel family, related by marriage to the Kennedys.Dumas weaves a spellbinding tale, cut in the mold of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood or, morerecently, John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Goodand Evil. Fans of those works will almost certainly enjoy this evocative and finely constructed story as well. --Tjames Madison