Tangled Webs

Sharon Salazar #1

by Margaret Tessler

Tessler, Margaret

280 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2001

Reviews

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sharon Morgan, a lawyer working in San Antonio Texas, receives a phone call from her childhood best friend Erica, asking for help. Erica has received threatening anonymous phone calls after the sudden death of their childhood friend Laura. Sharon returns to Zapata Texas where she grew up with Erica and Laura, and reconnects with her friends including a former boyfriend, Ryan. Sharon senses more than Laura's death is troubling her friends and their families, and she is unsettled by contacts with her old nemesis Bernice as well as an unknown stalker. Ryan and Sharon work together to unravel the complicated motives and secrets and rekindle their romance.

The beginning is powerful: a best friend from childhood calling for help gets the reader emotionally invested. The story truly presents 'a tangled web' - of subplots, including a moral sermon on bigotry. The rekindled romance is a given from the moment Sharon and Ryan meet again, although Sharon wavers in her response. Sharon's behavior frequently shifts from strong independent woman to helpless damsel in distress. Her friends want her help but keep secrets from her, give her mysterious green pills then question her trust, and the best friend who called for help leaves the state to visit her boyfriend. It is occasionally hard to recall whose parents are whose in this 3-generation multi-family story.

[Cynthia Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret does a terrific job of spinning a mysterious tale whether the setting is in New Mexico or Texas. Her characters are likeable and believable...most of them are people you'd like to know.

I've read all of her books and I recommend them to anyone, especially those who enjoy a good mystery.

Margaret, you really know how to tell a tale that keeps me turning the pages!

Cynthia Briggs