Cape Fear-flavored mystery novel ‘Blood Will Tell’ recalls the Wilmington of old

In “Blood Will Tell,” an intrepid young reporter solves a murder in a town very much like Wilmington. I had to love it.

I also have to admit a little bias. “Blood Will Tell” is the debut novel by Anita Coffee Thomas, who, until her retirement in 2014, was the personal assistant to the publisher of the Star-News, back when the paper had a hyphen.

Thomas makes some rookie mistakes, but “Blood” is a credible effort in large part because Thomas, a self-confessed Nancy Drew fan, writes about what she knows.

It’s 1971, and Amanda Blackstone, fresh out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, snags a tryout at the Coastal Herald, the daily newspaper in Compton, a small coastal city with a distinct resemblance to Wilmington.

Green as she is, Amanda notices things, and she can tell what’s out of place. Sent to cover a routine ribbon-cutting, she spots signs of a drug ring operating out of the back of a supermarket. 

When she covers a debutante ball, she overhears an argument between the CFO of one of Compton’s biggest development companies and the big boss. Somebody may be cooking the books.

Then the CFO is found dead in his garage, an apparent suicide. The reader knows it’s really murder, because the crime’s spelled out in Chapter 1. It takes Amanda a bit longer to figure it out.

Soon, Amanda and the Herald’s hotshot investigative reporter are tracking possible malfeasance by developer Jack Lockwood, who looks like he’s siphoning money from a fake foundation. This makes Amanda uncomfortable; she’s grown to like Jack’s daughter Jennifer, a nice person who volunteers at the local animal shelter. 

There’s more to the story, though, and Amanda soon finds herself unraveling an Old South scandal of family secrets and lies.

Locals will recognize several Wilmington landmarks; some of the Herald reporters live in the Carolina Apartments at Fifth Avenue and Market Street.

Thomas does well at capturing the feel of the Port City before the movies and I-40 arrived. She’s particularly good at catching the feel of a newsroom in the days before laptop computers. (Thomas thanks former StarNews sports editor Dan Spears for a lot of technical advice.)

As noted, this is a first novel. Thomas needs to work on avoiding the passive voice, and some careful trimming could have moved things along more rapidly. Still, I think Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew’s pseudonymous author, would be proud of her protege. 

‘BLOOD WILL TELL’

By Anita Coffee Thomas 

Charleston, S.C.: Palmetto Publishing, $18.99