Book description
The morgue is that cold and sterile facility where medical examiners do
their necessary but, to many of us, dreadful work. Less familiar is its
dry and dusty version, usually housed in the bowels of newspaper
buildings, where old story clippings are filed away. Dolly Madison
Sprowls has been in charge of The Hannawa Herald-Union's morgue for more
than 40 years. She is gruff and salty, well past the age of retirement,
the unchallenged queen of her ink-stained domain. Reporters call her
Morgue Mama-but only behind her back. Maddy Sprowls' well-ordered world
gets turned upside-down when the paper hires 24-year-old Aubrey McGinty
for its police beat. Aubrey loses no time in questioning the conviction
of Sissy James for the murder of TV evangelist Buddy Wing. Yes, Sissy
had quickly confessed to poisoning the famous preacher live on
television-and the evidence does seem overwhelming-but the ambitious
young reporter doesn't believe Sissy did it. Why, then, does Sissy
embrace guilt? Aubrey enlists Morgue Mama's help and together they begin
a harrowing search for the truth. Digging into the morgue's file, they
soon-dangerously-uncover enough suspects to fill a church with those who
do the devil's work.... “An ambitious young Ohio crime reporter teams
up with the wise old curmudgeon heading up the newspaper's morgue. Dolly
Madison Sprowls, 67, thinks she'll be teaching newcomer Aubrey McGinty,
24, a thing or two about proper Hannawa Herald-Union procedure when she
comes looking for file clips on the Buddy Wing murder. But Aubrey
immediately convinces the acerbic Morgue Mama to help her prove the
televangelist wasn't poisoned by Sissy James, even though she confessed.
High on their list of new suspects are Tom Bandicoot, Sissy's lover and
the former assistant pastor at the Heaven Bound Cathedral until Buddy
cast him out, forcing him to start up the rival New Day Epiphany Temple;
his wife, Annie, desperate to have him reclaim his former eminence;
Guthrie Gates, the new golden boy at Heaven Bound; disgruntled
parishioner Wayne F. Dillow, whose wife died despite healing sessions
with Buddy; several Kent State students working at the Cathedral as
part-time interns; and Elaine Albert, who's responsible for getting the
reverend's sermons on the air. Verbally abrasive Dolly and seductively
manipulative Aubrey are soon offending town nabobs, cops, managing
editors, rival reporters, and each other before newcomer Corwin throws
in a couple of twists that send the plot careening out of control.
That's unfortunate, because the wry handling of the irrepressible Dolly,
and her takes on aging, youth in heat, and diner specials, are very
appealing indeed.” C. R. Corwin lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife,
Carol, and a pair of inexhaustible Shetland sheepdogs, Nellie and
Dudley. A former newspaperman, he teaches a “Writing That Novel” course
at the University of Akron.
