Reunion with a Killer

Rod Summitt and Richard Edgerton
Crystal Dreams Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781591460985
Reviewed by Wendy Cleveland for Reader Views (5/08)


Would you do whatever it took to uncover the truth?  This is what the main character Lee Bishop tries to do throughout Rod Summitt and Richard Edgerton’s mystery / thriller “Reunion with a Killer.”  Lee is a hardware sales rep from San Francisco, California who decides to take a cross-country road trip to visit his clients on the east coast.  He feels that since he is about to retire, he should make this trip a vacation and forgoes all forms of business communication (cell phone and computer).  On his way, he makes a stop in his college town of Enderling, Iowa to reminisce and visit old friends.  Once he arrives, he drops in on his old college roommate, Carl Kyle, who is now President of the major bank in town.  When he arrives at the bank, he realizes the person who’s supposed to be Carl is a complete stranger.  Lee learns that this man is really not his old friend, but everyone in town seems to think he is.  Before continuing on way, Lee discovers another old college friend, Pete Riley, works at the local newspaper.  He decides to enlist Pete in helping him find out what happened to the “real” Carl Kyle.  The plot continues and uncovers twists and turns that start to put the puzzle together.  However, both Lee and Pete put themselves and others into dangerous situations to uncover the truth.

As you read in the Author’s Forward, this story was conceived in 1973 when the two authors were junior high school teachers.  It was shelved and later updated to modern times.  I’m glad that I read the forward first because some of the 70’s connotations were left in the story which brought back fond memories for me.  Especially the reference to Lee smoking a pipe which reminded me of my grandfather who did while I was growing up.

“Reunion with a Killer” was a scary mystery with the whole idea of reuniting with someone from your past, realizing that it’s not the person, but someone pretending to be.  The character “Carl Kyle” went to great lengths to protect his new identity which I won’t reveal here.  Mr. Summitt and Mr. Edgerton did a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a great who-done-it mystery that keeps you guessing.

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