Title: The Inheritance And The Fatal Vision
Author: LB Robbins
Publisher: Top Link Publishing
ISBN: 1950540804
Pages: 76
Genre: Fiction / Cozy Mystery
Review by: Jake Bishop
Pacific Book Review
Visions have meaning—at least they do in this involving cozy mystery from Lois Robbins. They have meaning to her protagonist, Angellica Peterson, who recounts her story via first-person tense in this chronicle of family histories, faulty legal proceedings, and mental pictures that make way for both good and bad events that follow. Robbins has molded the character of Angellica into a mature widow who has to balance the apparitions before her with the care of her seriously ill sister and the shenanigans of criminals and crooked lawyers intent on bilking deserving inheritors and banking some very substantial ill-gotten gains.
Angellica’s visions begin with her brother emerging from a lake appearing to be his eight-year-old self. Other sightings occur and they end with a final mental picture revealing a coffin ascending, then vanishing into a cloud of smoke. The aforementioned revelations are followed by a phone call informing her that her cousin, Dave, has died. Dave was a would-be actor who eventually became an English teacher. Theirs had been a relationship largely conducted by cheerful phone conversations over the years. Angelica is saddened to hear of the news that comes from her cousin’s lawn keeper. She thinks the messenger is a good fellow for both finding the body and for overseeing the funeral arrangements along with his partner. But the deeper Angellica gets into her cousin’s demise and his supposed plans for the dispersal of his estate, the more she begins to realize that the two landscapers are not what they seem. Plus the lawyer who is supposed to be helping Angellica seems to be spending a lot more time obfuscating the issues and perhaps even aiding the greedy grass-cutters.
Forged last will and testaments, financial skullduggery and more soon follow as Angellica is swept into elongated legal proceedings that seem like death by a thousand cuts. Will the bona fide heirs get what’s coming to them? Will cousin Dave’s real plans be honored? Will Angellica ever be able to say the word “lawyer” again without grimacing?
Robbins spins her yarn with subdued grace. In deference to cousin Dave’s theatrical aspirations, she liberally sprinkles her tale with appropriate quotes from Shakespeare. This is a writer confident in the contours of the protagonist she’s created. Angellica seems like a nice woman we’ve all met somewhere who’s amiable personality hides a quick wit and a potentially rapier tongue that she more often than not keeps in check. Her devotion to religion is worn proudly without being emblazoned on her sleeve. There are likely more narratives to come featuring this astute lady who occasionally sees things that others don’t, keeping a steady gaze on the right path, and never turns a blind eye to wrongdoing.
