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The Levee
Malcolm Shuman
#UD4642 Paperback, 211 pages; 2009 (2008) $16.95

  True-crime writer Colin Douglas, protagonist of this pulse-quickening novel, returns to his hometown of Baton Rouge in his sixties, hoping to uncover the truth behind a mysterious incident from his youth. Alternating between past (1959) and present (2007), The Levee tantalizingly reveals the story of a murder that occurred while Colin and his friends were teenagers, camping near an abandoned slave plantation. The things Colin saw that night (and why he didn't tell anyone about them) still haunt him--and make for an exhilarating story. Based on an actual crime that was never solved, this gritty mystery/bildungsroman reveals all in the end--and the identity of the killer may shock you! (CH)