All the Dead Lie Down (Molley Cates)

by Mary Willis Walker

Book Overview

When crime reporter Molly Cates s father died more than twenty-five years ago, the case was ruled a suicide, and Molly s efforts to prove otherwise led to nothing but anguish and the breakup of her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553578227
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 0.8" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Turmoil in Texas

This is an ambitious attempt by Edgar Winner Mary Willis Walker starring Molly Cates for the third time. For the most part, it was a first-rate effort of combining politics, homelessness, and a 28-year-old unsolved mystery.I found no part of the novel far-fetched. I might have done so before April 19, 1995, (Oklahoma City Federal Building explosion), but no more. A well-designed plan to release lethal nerve gas in the State Senate Chamber was shocking, but by no means unbelievable. The chilling non-personage treatment of homeless people is an everyday occurrence. In Texas, unusual politics is politics as usual.The characterizations are superb, and the story is tightly plotted. Balancing two main stories, the homeless Sarah Jane and Molly's self-mutilating investigation of her father's death 28 years ago, is a tough assignment, and is not always successful. I found myself deeply involved with homeless Sarah Jane who seemed to me more interesting than Molly. It could be that crimes committed 28 years ago lack in immediacy. I would find myself drawn back to Molly's story by the repulsive former Sheriff Crocker. The worst part wasn't his disgusting persona, it was that it was so familiar. We have all met a Sheriff Crocker, and been far the worse for the encounter.The story was taut, leading to an unbearably suspenseful showdown. Even if the house were burning down, you wouldn't move till you finished the last ten pages.

A SEDUCTIVE MIX OF FAMILY HISTORY AND MYSTERY

With an intriguing blend of Capitol mayhem and capital murder, Edgar Award winning author Mary Willis Walker returns to the scene of her last thriller, Austin, and to her previous protagonist, Molly Cates, an investigative journalist for "Lone Star Monthly.' Imaginatively conceived, All The Dead Lie Down offers seemingly parallel plots which eventually converge in a frightening yet exhilarating finish. Sarah Jane Hurley, an alcoholic derelict known as Cow Lady because of the black and white spotted coat she wears, is huddled beneath the deck of an outdoor restaurant when she overhears a mephistophelian plot - the detonation of a poison gas bomb in the Texas State Capitol building. "Yessir," she hears. "...You're going to turn that Senate chamber into a gas chamber." Cow Lady ignores this frightening revelation, seeking only drink with "the glow in her blood, the numbing buzz in her brain as it begins to work its magic." Not missing a beat the rapidly pace narrative then switches to the legislature where Molly Cates is researching a story on the concealed handgun bill. Molly is as plucky and stubborn as ever, but misguided - obsessed with the belief that her father's death some 25 years ago was not a suicide as judged but murder. Constantly reaffirming the links between an idealized father and herself - he was a writer, she is a writer; he loved the lake; she loved the lake - she has been consumed by her desire to solve what she believes was his murder. The result of her fixation has been the dissolution of her marriage and this distancing of her only child, Jo Beth, who has been raised by Aunt Harriet, her father's older sister. Access to the Cates family archives eventually leads to unraveling the questions about her father's death. The answers, both unexpected and unwanted, force her to realize that her father was not the icon she believed him to be and enable a wiser Molly to say, "My father was grievously flawed. He is closer and dearer to me now than when I chose to believe him perfect." Yet it was Molly's chance meeting with Cow Lady that irrevocably changed and endangered both women's lives. When a fellow street person wearing the trademark black and white coat is brutally murdered, Cow Lady realizes that the plotters know they were overheard and, once they realize they've killed the wrong woman, she will be next. Molly is the only person she can think of who might help her. Unwisely responding alone, the journalist finds herself joining Cow Lady as the doomed prisoners of two avaricious sociopathic killers who would sell their sisters for a sou just as they've sold Cow Lady. Thursting into overdrive the story takes a hariraising turn as a weakened Cow Lady and bludgeoned Molly try to escape execution style deaths and interment in Austin's city dump. Mr. Willis' command of street patois adds authnticity to her tale, while her rich characterizations raise All The Dead Lie Down above conventional thriller level. Faces

All The Dead Lie Down is a fierce modern-day tale!

There are two stories weaving in & out of each other in this taut & fascinating tale. One is about an indigent, hollow woman who lives by her wits cheek-by-jowl around the Texas Capitol. One evening, above her fog of anger & booze she hears an act or terrorism being hatched. The other is about middle-aged Molly & her one last bid to bring to justice the murderer of her idolized father. With clues & old enemies, sudden attacks of depression ameliorated by the re-awakening of her marriage, Molly too stumbles through her fog of her naivete & obstinacy.Mary Willis Walker has written a gripper with a different point of view! Taken us into the cesspools of slums & politicians' lies. Shone a flashlight on the tarnished souls of those who would represent us & highlighted the bright bravery of those who would defend us. Do visit my site for my full review of this & other thrillers.

Hard to put down!

I have read all the author's mysteries, and this strained credibility a bit, but it was hard to put down! If you can buy into the premises, it's a winner. If not, it's entertaining and somewhat educational, especially the homeless perspective. Mary Willis Walker is a talented writer!

This author writes chilling thrillers

For the past twenty-eight years, Molly Cates, a Journalist on the Lone Star Monthly Magazine, believes her father was murdered and not a suicide victim as the official position states. While working on two stories (on the homeless and a bill allowing the concealment of weapons), Molly comes across new information on the death of her father. While digging up her own past, a homeless person, the "Cow Lady" tells Molly that she overheard a plot to kill everyone inside the Texas Senate building when the gun bill goes on the floor for a vote. While Molly and the "Cow Lady" try to save lives from a militant gun group, she also learns the truth behind the death of her father. Mary Willis Walker has won numerous awards for her mystery novels (ZERO TO THE BONE, THE RED SCREAM, etc.). Her latest book, ALL THE DEAD LIE DOWN is a good story, but not on the same quality level as the previous tales, thereby, leaving many readers disappointed. Still, many readers will enjoy the self-examination of the protagonist even as they will be a bit disappointed over the slow moving story line which takes a back seat to the wonderful characterizations. Harriet Klausner