From Publishers Weekly
In her fourth Ben Reese mystery, Edgar nominee Wright takes Ben away from England and Scotland, the settings for the last two books, and deposits him on unspoiled Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. It's 1960, and Cumberland faces an uncertain future as developers and park service scouts try to convince key families to sell their property. Ben stumbles on the murder of a bedridden MS patient-a murder that initially looks like a natural death by pneumonia. But Ben (who learned all about biological agents in the third book, Pursuit and Persuasion) is suspicious, since the victim left behind a surprising will deeding the island to her niece rather than her avaricious daughter. As Ben sifts through numerous red herrings, Wright tackles strong ethical issues such as euthanasia, ecological responsibility and vengeance, offering a religious message that's wonderfully subtle and thoughtful. She also reveals something more of Ben's character; we discover what he did in WWII that still gives him nightmares, and learn of the existence of a wartime nemesis whom Ben believes should be brought to justice. Wright's writing style can be abrupt, particularly when things get exciting. She leans heavily on choppy sentences and tends to begin far too many of them with conjunctions. However, this otherwise impeccable mystery manages to take conventional plot devices-an isolated island, a startling will, a generations-old family feud-and make them fresh. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
“Archivist and amateur detective Ben Reese is a wonderful character, as far off the beaten path of fictional detectives as Brother Cadfael. It is delightful to get in on the ground floor with a mystery writer who, God willing, will be keeping us instructed, entertained, puzzled, and moved for many years to come.”
—National Review

“Wright has given us intelligent, literate (and literary) adult . . . mysteries that follow in the tradition of G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, Flannery O’Conner, and Russell Kirk. . . . Wright succeeds well in avoiding the preachy and predictable, and—most of all—the trendy.”
—Chronicles

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Out of the Ruins bristles with fascinating characters caught in satisfying complications-a masterpiece of suspense. Georgia's wild, romantic Cumberland Island is steeped in family secrets. Hannah Hill, a widow patiently suffering from multiple sclerosis, dies in her large inherited mansion just days after telling her visitor Ben Reese about a disguised nighttime intruder. Treading carefully around questions about mercy and human suffering, Ben pursues a tangle of motives and old mysteries-euthanasia, arson, poaching, and jealousy between two great island families.

Author Biography: Sally S. Wright is the author of three acclaimed mystery novels. She attended Northwestern University, where she earned a degree in oral interpretation of literature, and also completed graduate work at the University of Washington. She and her husband live in Ohio and are the parents of two children.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In her fourth Ben Reese mystery, Edgar nominee Wright takes Ben away from England and Scotland, the settings for the last two books, and deposits him on unspoiled Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. It's 1960, and Cumberland faces an uncertain future as developers and park service scouts try to convince key families to sell their property. Ben stumbles on the murder of a bedridden MS patient-a murder that initially looks like a natural death by pneumonia. But Ben (who learned all about biological agents in the third book, Pursuit and Persuasion) is suspicious, since the victim left behind a surprising will deeding the island to her niece rather than her avaricious daughter. As Ben sifts through numerous red herrings, Wright tackles strong ethical issues such as euthanasia, ecological responsibility and vengeance, offering a religious message that's wonderfully subtle and thoughtful. She also reveals something more of Ben's character; we discover what he did in WWII that still gives him nightmares, and learn of the existence of a wartime nemesis whom Ben believes should be brought to justice. Wright's writing style can be abrupt, particularly when things get exciting. She leans heavily on choppy sentences and tends to begin far too many of them with conjunctions. However, this otherwise impeccable mystery manages to take conventional plot devices-an isolated island, a startling will, a generations-old family feud-and make them fresh. (Jan.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Everyone wants a piece of beautiful Cumberland Island. The Feds long to turn it into a national park, bringing in 2,000 visitors a day to gawk at the egrets, turtles, deer, wild horses, and pigs. The developers want to toss up condos where the wealthy can overlook water and wildlife. Standing-or, rather, lying-in their way is bedridden MS sufferer Hannah Hill, who owns 90% of the island and wants to keep it a nature sanctuary. She begs her nephew, Alderton University archivist Ben Reese (Pursuit and Persuasion, etc., not reviewed), to help, but before he makes more than a phone call, someone sprays Streptococcus pneumoniae around Hannah's bed, then smothers her. Her loving surrogate daughter Johanna, a neophyte opera singer, is distraught, which is more than can be said for her daughter Mary, who thinks she'll inherit, marry, and enjoy big-city life ever after, and her plain, pudgy, untalented niece Leah, who's always been jealous of Johanna. Estelle, the family cook, once a surgical nurse under another name, is just thankful Miz Hannah is now out of her MS misery. By the time Ben sorts through the family connections, evaluates an art collection for his university, and reconnects with his best friend's widow, the killer is confronting Johanna at the ruin of the old family mansion.