"A good mystery"
Being the patriarch of his family, Martin Collins
inherits the title Judge from his deceased father and his
grandfather before that. Over the years, Martin had a good
life until at the age of sixty-eight the stock market crash
of '29 left him fiscally crippled. He fled Manhattan for
his long time summer home in Fredericktown in the Catskill
Mountains. In 1938, deputy sheriff Potter Washington and Martin's
two grandsons Robert and Ted systematically fire six
bullets each at a farmhouse containing over fifty Jews.
Potter wants to drive the lower class "Kikes" out of his
area by scaring them but has no plans of hurting anyone.
However, something goes wrong and Potter learns that his
cousin Marjorie Bingham was killed during the assault.
Sheriff Evans quickly learns that the murder of Marjorie
was an inside job camouflaged by the outside onslaught. He
and the Judge begin an investigation to learn who killed
the victim and who attacked the Jews. CATSKILL starts slowly as author John R Hayes tries to
establish the credentials of Martin through the history of
his ancestors though why is hard to say. However, once the
Potter led assailing occurs, the combination police
procedural-amateur sleuth story line picks up at rapid
speed and never slows down for a paragraph. The tale
provides intense insight into the resort area during a
period of change while not neglecting the who-done-it.
Fans of historical who-done-its will fully enjoy Mr. Hayes'
tale. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted August 23, 2001
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