The Story of Annie D.

by Susan Taylor Chehak
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Publish Date: February 02, 2011
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Overview

A clear, dry voice, stripped of sentiment or passion, narrates an absorbing saga of love, madness and murder set in the small town of Wizen River, Neb. The voice belongs to long-widowed Annie Diettermann, who has also endured the death of two young sons. Interspersed with her bleak family history is Annie's continuing chronicle about her wealthy friend Phoebe, whose disgraced daughter Lacey is sent to California to bear an illegitimate son fathered by disreputable Casey Boots, a youngster from the unsavory section of town. Lacey, still embittered by her exile, returns nine years later for her mother's funeral and is reunited with Casey. They attempt to start a new life, and it is at this juncture that a series of crimes begins. Three young women are raped and murdered, and each victim has a lock of hair shorn. Annie D. accidentally discovers the murderer, and her solution--tragic, inevitable, wise--resoundingly closes the books on the slayings.This authentically and distinctively caden... (Read more) A clear, dry voice, stripped of sentiment or passion, narrates an absorbing saga of love, madness and murder set in the small town of Wizen River, Neb. The voice belongs to long-widowed Annie Diettermann, who has also endured the death of two young sons. Interspersed with her bleak family history is Annie's continuing chronicle about her wealthy friend Phoebe, whose disgraced daughter Lacey is sent to California to bear an illegitimate son fathered by disreputable Casey Boots, a youngster from the unsavory section of town. Lacey, still embittered by her exile, returns nine years later for her mother's funeral and is reunited with Casey. They attempt to start a new life, and it is at this juncture that a series of crimes begins. Three young women are raped and murdered, and each victim has a lock of hair shorn. Annie D. accidentally discovers the murderer, and her solution--tragic, inevitable, wise--resoundingly closes the books on the slayings.This authentically and distinctively cadenced first novel marks a promising debut.

Author Information

Susan Taylor Chehak

Susan Taylor Chehak is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers Workshop and the author of five novels, including Smithereens (a Hammett Award nominee), The Truth About Annie D. (an Edgar Award nominee and New York Times Notable Book), and Harmony (a Literary Guild Editor's Choice), as well as a book of nonfiction, Don Quixote Meets the Mob: The Craft of Fiction and the Art of Life. Her short stories have appeared in Guernica Magazine, L.A. Under The Influence, Sisters in Crime 5, and The Chariton Review. She teaches fiction writing in the low residency MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles, as well as in The UCLA Extension Writers' Program and the Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa. Susan grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, spends as much time as possible in Colorado, and at present divides her time between Los Angeles and Toronto.

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