THE KING IS DEAD
by Sarah Shankman
Atlanta crime reporter Samantha Adams and her restaurant-owner boyfriend Harry Zach (She Walks in Beauty, etc.) have arrived in Tupelo, Mississippi, where Harry is competing in the Third International Barbecue Cookoff. Tupelo, birthplace of The King, is also hosting an Elvis look-alike contest and a Bikers for Jesus (we're talking Harleys here) get-together. Meanwhile, trucker Dewey Travis, a sexy, volatile Elvis fanatic, is headed for Tupelo; so is recent widow Mary Anne McClanahan, on her way to confront her late husband's first wife (undivorced) and claim the insurance money. When cook-off contestant Floyd Morgan is nearly electrocuted by his cooker and local lawyer's wife Lovie Rakestraw gets a fatal electric shock in her Jacuzzi, Sam's sleuthing instincts go to work—she teams up with local cop Ollie Priest and meets a slew of locals who run the gambit from delightful to dissolute to deranged- -sometimes all three. The killer's identity isn't meant to surprise, but his comeuppance provides a fitting end to a rollicking, Rabelaisian saga—southern-style. Another rich and racy fun-fest from this gifted writer.