The Case of The Red-Handed Rhesus

Rue and Lakeland #2

by Jessie Bishop Powell

Noel Rue and her husband Lance lead busy lives, juggling their work at the Midwest Primate Sanctuary with the task of protecting their teen foster daughter, Natasha. Are they really ready to adopt young twins with Asperger’s syndrome? When they answer yes, they’re plunged into the world of special needs parenting as chaos blooms around them.
Headless bodies, vanishing deputies, and evidence-thieving spider monkeys compound their problems as the police scramble for clues. Will Noel and Lance solve the mystery or be the next ones to lose their heads . . . literally?

377 pages, Hardcover

First published November 19, 2015

About the author

Jessie Bishop Powell grew up in rural Ohio. She now lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband and their two children. She has Master’s Degrees in English and Library Science from the University of Kentucky. Jessie’s first book, Divorce: A Love Story was published as an e-book by Throwaway Lines in 2011. The Marriage at the Rue Morgue is her debut mystery.

Reviews

[Susan]

I would like to be a consistent critic, but I loved this book despite some things that would normally annoy me. It starts slowly, recapping Powell's previous title, "The Marriage at the Rue Morgue," and the events that find newly-weds Noel and Lance fostering Natasha, the adopted daughter of their hospitalized friends, and adopting biracial twins on the spectrum, while trying to run an underfunded primate research center. It's a while before they realize that the porn video ring that had previously imprisoned Natasha is again trying to capture the girl. Noel doesn't know who to trust, aside from her family and the government agents who have been working with them. The plot is very complex, and the copy editing is not all one could wish for, but I find the characters, especially narrator Noel, irresistible. One hopes the publishing community will find a place for further books by Powell.

[Andra Watkins]

Powell has done it again. This gifted writer makes primates fascinating and portrays special needs children as both real and powerful. Nobody and nothing is cliche. The story turns pages and continues to surprise until the final chapter. I'm looking forward to what's coming next in this series.