TURNING ANGEL by Greg Iles

Finished Fr 3/16/18

A Penn Cage novel

This is the third novel that I've read by Iles, and I've loved them all. Better than 'an airport read' because they're so much longer and more detailed, and all of them are serious page turners.

I checked out some videos on Youtube about the authro-
He loves cats, the Beatles, and he plays guitar (FRANKLY SCARLET)

'Turning Angel' refers to a statue in the local cemetery near Natchez, MS. This is also where the Iles family plot is located. Greg's father is buried there and he was also a doctor- like Penn's father in the series.

The Storyline:

Kate Townsend, a high school senior and the most popular girl in town is found drowned in the river. She has been having a passionate affair with Drew Elliott, maybe the most popular doctor in town, friend of Penn Cage, and over twenty years older than Kate.

Who dunnit and Why??

At the river bank Kate while waiting for her lover Drew,  Drew's wife, Ellen, confronts her about the affair. Kate tells Ellen that she's pregnant and Drew wants to marry her. Ellen freaks, strangles her, but doesn't kill her. Kate falls into the river and hits her head.
Ellen leaves and Marko Bakic, an exchange student from Serbia and the local hoodlum, finds Kate and rapes her lifeless body.
After the rape, Kate dies (finally?) and then Drew enters the scene to administer CPR- after the fact. 

Drew is brought up on murder charges and the case is actually secondary to the attempt by a crooked black politician to take control of the town. Drew is found guilty, but later Marko is charged with the crime. The fact that Ellen strangled Kate is concealed from the authorities.

When I read what I've just noted about the book,  it sounds like bullshit, but it is most definitely a wild read.

From Amazon-

"After winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe -- not from long-buried secrets, or murder....When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn's best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel. An esteemed family physician, Drew makes a shocking confession that could put him on death row. Penn will do all he can to exonerate Drew, but in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue -- the Turning Angel -- never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence."

I think my next one by this author will not be part of the Penn Cage series. His first book dealt with Rudolf Hess??