Past Tense: A Novel

by Bob Levy

Adam Baldwin, in the middle of his seventh term as a United States Senator, is at the pinnacle of his career. And he is the front-runner for his party's nomination for President at the looming Democratic National Convention. But a dark cloud hangs over his head. There is a seemingly far-fetched accusation that the candidate murdered a young woman decades before when in college. This is scoffed at by the local police, but when a suspicious explosion kills the accuser's family, the curiosity of the retired Memphis Chief of Police, Joe O'Riley, a high school classmate of Baldwin's, is aroused. O'Riley senses truth in the allegations, especially after a woman reports knowledge of the same murder. Yet, how could the man who made the accusation and this woman know such vivid details of the murder when neither was alive at the time it happened? And how could they know details of O'Riley's past known only to himself? Might all this be a link to an unsolved missing person case, O'Riley's first as a rookie cop, that had haunted him his whole career? Death and destruction stalk the couple as O'Riley jumps into the fray, determined to find out the truth before the country elects a murderer as the next President of the United States.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Lisa Discenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memphis setting by Memphis author- always enjoy this bing from Memphis

[Susie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a donor book at a local library recently and found it was a signed copy -- "Past Tense", by Memphis writer-retailer Bob Levy. I really dug this novel -- some snappy imagery, I thought, and an unusual way of getting into the history and plot and of course the resolution of awfulness born of greed; the thirst for power that can be passed from generation to generation. Let's say I was raising one eyebrow a time or two as Levy wrote about the personality changes of a couple of his key characters as old crimes were being investigated, something that led to more bloodshed .... I'd recommend this one. Got a kick out of reading this Memphis thriller - detective - love story for "all time".

[Emily Adams]

I LOVED this book - partially because it was set in Memphis and so many places were very familiar to me. But, it was also a captivating story line with characters that will stay with me a long time.

It was such good story, I read it in one sitting!