Vengeance Can Wait

Carol Guy and Linda Zimmer
Mundania Press (2006)
ISBN 1594263450
Reviewed by Audrey Hauser for Reader Views (8/06)

It was the spring of 1981 and the senior class of Bedford High was awaiting graduation.  But, that spring there were some horrific events that James, Dennis, Peg, Ned, Barbara, Marianne, Allison and the others would just like to forget.  Somehow the class made it through this time and started the next chapter of their lives.

Twenty-five years later Peg Mason is rummaging in her attic when she comes upon a box marked “Senior Year”.   Opening this box and discovering memorabilia from that fateful time got Peg to thinking that her class really should have a reunion to mark the twenty-five year milestone.  She mentions it to her husband Ned who is now the chief of police in Bedford and he suggests she start making phone calls to some of the others who were in positions of importance during their graduating year.

Once the box was opened and the plan set in motion, Bedford became a city living in terror as a serial killer targets three of the citizens, all members of the class of 1981.  Annette is the first to die.  Her life had not gone as she had hoped, married to Dr. James Pearson, and she had slipped into the existence of an alcoholic.  James was suspected of her murder when it became known he was having an affair with Barbara.  Before the Bedford police could solve this murder a second member of the class of ’81 dies. Dennis Parker, president of Bedford’s bank and not well liked by many, was found dead behind the bank. The police department was struggling to find clues for these murders. 

Ned called in a retired FBI profiler but, as it turned out, not soon enough to prevent a third murder in Bedford.  Marianne became the serial killers third victim.  Will the profiler be able to help Bedford’s finest solve the string of murders?  It seems like someone in the class of 1981 might be out for vengeance.

I liked the way the authors introduced the story, giving an early picture of what some of the classmates faced their senior year.  They worked to bring each of the classmates involved, into the story in such a way that you could envision what life was like in Bedford 25 years later.  As I am also looking towards a class reunion of milestone proportions, 50 years, I find myself faced with the prospect of having to spearhead organizing the reunion.   I hope I don’t open a Pandora’s Box like Peg did.   I found the story of the Bedford murders unfolding in such a way as to keep the reader wondering who in the class of 1981 could be responsible.  I would highly recommend this story. 

One comment on the printing though.   I noticed a number of typos that it seems should have been caught in proofing.

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