Samantha Jayne Allen hits the ground running in her poignant debut about a young woman torn between the familiarity of her small hometown and a different future in the Tony Hillerman Prize-winning Pay Dirt Road.
Annie McIntyre graduated four months ago from a private college she attended on scholarships. It's expected she will attend law school, but her LSAT books languish under her bed as she tries to decide what to do. Meanwhile, she works at the diner back in her hometown of Garnett, Tex., lives with her cousin who's her best friend, attends parties with former high school friends and acquaintances she hasn't seen in a few years. "If growing up in a town like this made you a dreamer, coming back made you aware of wanting too much," she says. A part-time job in the private investigative firm run by her grandfather, Leroy McIntyre, and his business partner, Mary-Pat Zimmerman, may be the jumpstart Annie needs. Annie taps into her sleuthing skills when the firm looks into the death of fellow waitress Victoria Merritt, who was murdered after they attended the same drunken party.
Allen's vivid prose delves into Annie's angst as she struggles to find her purpose in the place where she knows she is "loved and loved well" by her family. Pay Dirt Road evocatively explores an economically depressed town that may be saved by a pipeline, but which also may ruin the land. This mystery ushers in a new author to watch. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer