Dell Books (Paperback), ISBN 0553584944

When Assistant DA Mary Crow starts seeing Stump Logan around Atlanta, she attributes it to the stress of her job. According to the FBI, Stump Logan died months ago, during an attempt on Mary's life, so her visions must spring from her imagination alone. Mary doesn't accept the official FBI story, but a child molestation case monopolizes her time and energy. When her goddaughter, Lily Walkingstick, gets kidnapped from a Native American rally, Mary must break away to help find her.

Readers know from the beginning that Stump Logan survived the explosion the FBI believed killed him. Bissell shows his secret thoughts and rages. Settled on one goal -- to inflict harm on Mary Crow -- Logan assumes the identity of a man he murdered. As he plots against her, Mary works to uncover the family secret that started Logan on the road to single-minded killing and to find her missing goddaughter.

Lily's father, Jonathan Walkingstick, a full blooded Cherokee, warned his wife, Ruth Moon, to stay away from the rally. Despite a long and secret history with Jonathan, Mary agrees to help Ruth Moon find Lily. As she searches, Mary's heart rips and tears as she imagines the happy life Jonathan and Ruth share together. With the help of Gabe, an archeologist with special interest in Cherokee history, Mary follows Lily and her captor up the Trail of Tears. Romantic feelings blossom amid the tension, and Mary finds herself thinking romantic, physical thoughts.

With a variety of plots and unrevealed secrets, the reader never gets bored. Bissell discloses just enough to keep the reader hooked, but still manages to pull out a shocker at the end. Though filled with minor characters, Bissell adds depth and interest to each of them, inspecting the seedy underbelly of human nature and interaction in a variety of ways. No stranger to the dark and twisted, Bissell pulls no punches with the plot or the characters.

Though Bissell thought Call the Devil by His Oldest Name would end her relationship with Mary and Jonathan, fans will rejoice to know that Bissell found herself drawn back into their world for another book. With her expert writing and keen sense of tension and plotting, Bissell writes books that defy setting aside.

Ceridwen Lewin

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