Yucca Flats, Nevada, is a pretty desolate place. One casino graces the town, but that's about it. It's a place where people bake in the heat and mind each others' business.

In this curious story, we meet five women who first met as youngsters, but who had grown apart over the years. They're now seniors, and some had moved away from the humdrum little town, but all five have now found themselves back in Yucca Flats.

When one of them, Theona Worley, is found murdered in her home, the incompetent oaf of a sheriff begins a cursory investigation -- he's clearly in above his head, but the boob can't admit this, even to himself. And when a second of the five women dies, panic sets in as it becomes clear that someone is targeting the five women.

Valdean Purdy is one of these five women. A part-time real estate agent and full-time busybody, she, along with a detective from a neighboring county, push the investigation forward. Valdean is sure that there is something to be learned in Theona's house, some clue that will blow this case wide open. And you dare not stand in Valdean's way -- yeah, she's that kind of person.

With each chapter, we learn more about the eccentrics of Yucca Flats. In fact, it seems that everyone is eccentric in this town. There's barely a normal person in the group. From the gardener to the sheriff to the postmaster, they're all a little screwy. And, I suppose, this is one way to describe this book -- a little screwy. Oh, for the record, I like screwy.

The narrator of the story haunts the reader to the very end -- you're never quite sure who he is, or how he knows this story at all. This adds a bit to the suspense. And the resolution of the mystery is very satisfying -- I should have seen it coming, but I didn't.

The Classmates is an engaging, enjoyable read, with enough weirdness to keep the story moving and the reader engaged. And although the editing and production of the book are generally good, an editor should have caught references to Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" as "Miss Marpole," and TV's NYPD Blue as NYPD Blues. Very odd mistakes in an otherwise nicely-produced volume.

There seems to be enough character development in this book to keep the story going. Will Arnold keep the ball rolling? I don't know. But I do know that I wouldn't mind revisiting the nutty world of Yucca Flats.

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Jeff Needle
August 24, 2004