I am always a little cautious when an author dies and books continue to come out. I have been a big fan of Margaret Truman's Capital Crimes series. Each volume always presented a strong mystery tale and a focus on a different location in Washington, D.C. In a way, it was also part travelogue that allowed the reader to learn about the place being highlighted, including its history and architecture, while blending it with the storyline.

In this 25th volume in the series, readers find themselves shifted out of the nation's capital to Savannah, Georgia. PI Bob Brixton is approached by Eunice Watkins, the mother of a local minister and a young woman who had been tragically gunned down 15 years earlier. Eunice's daughter Louise was quite the lost soul. She was an 18-year-old prostitute and drug addict who had gone to prison for four years because of charges of a stabbing murder of a man who tried to rape her. She plead guilty to the crime. The problem is that Louise told Eunice that she had been paid $10,000 to make the false plea and take the blame. Now, Louise's brother has convinced Eunice to come forward to help clear her name.

It does not take long for Brixton to find himself being drawn into the dark underbelly of the Savannah business elite and their ties to Washington's political elite. A photograph turns up showing Louise with a group of girls who attended a local private school. One of the girls is Mitzi Cardell, a grand dame of Washington society and a good friend to First Lady Jeanine Jamison. There is no question that Washington can be full of secrets, and some of the dark secrets Brixton is coming across will likely bring down some major players.

Margaret Truman died in 2008, and her publisher released one additional novel shortly after that. Unlike that work, which wasn't necessarily her best, this volume doesn't even have the feel of her writing or her rich interweaving of capital geography. Sure, Truman's regular amateur detective Mackenzie Smith and his wife Annabel play a role in the tale, but they are about all that is familiar.

The murderer was evident fairly quickly because of the cliched plot and reasoning. I have a feeling that this was ghost written, and it is terrible when they do that for a great author who has passed away. I know there is a drive for money, but it would be so much better for the author to remembered for her great work than the badly done sequels they hoped would keep the interest of fans.