Love--Hate--Natural Disasters--Retribution--Revenge, all contribute to the humbling of Mattie Hunter in THE RECKONING, a complex sequel to Meredith's first novel of historical fiction: A TIME TOO LATE. Separated from Jesse McDade, her former ranch manager and the man she loves, Mattie is at the mercy of whatever cruel acts her weakling husband, Samuel, and his close companion, Clint Murray, can devise. Thanks to a decision her father made, Mattie no longer holds clear title to her ranch, but shares it with Samuel. Whatever decision Samuel makes, Mattie can thwart until one day she learns a strong woman cannot always defeat a man's physical strength. It is up to Jesse McDade to defend Mattie, and he pays a terrible reckoning for loving her. Mattie's own reckoning may be worse as a vengeful woman threatens the land that Mattie loves--perhaps loves more than any man.
D.R. Meredith, Doris to friends and family, has a split personality--by day, she is a conservatively dressed legal secretary at her husband Mike's law firm. By night she turns into Mrs. Hyde dressed in jeans, flip-flops, and Texas Rangers tee shirt, and commits bloody murder.
She is now in double digits. In her fourth book in the Megan Clark mystery series, the 18th book of her career, D.R. Meredith has just committed her 35th murder.
"I usually average 2 murders a book, because one murder in a closed circle of suspects usually leads to another in the accepted Agatha Christie fashion. In TOME OF DEATH there are two murders, but they occur 150 years apart. I like linking the past and present and exploring the effect our past has on our present. I can't tell how I use the past without giving a broad hint to the killer's identity, but I will say that human beings don't change over time except in dress and customs. My Comanche warrior amateur sleuth isn't all that different in emotional feelings from modern paleopathologist Megan Clark, except Megan isn't into scalping."