Lies of Convenience on Route 66

By Colleen Walsh Fong

Lies of Convenience, is the latest book by author M. M. Gornell and is her second Route 66 mystery. MM is fascinated with both the Mojave and the mystique of Route 66, the Mother Road. The desert in both its beauty and harshness becomes a major character in the story. The action alternates between Chicago, the start of Route 66, and the Southern California desert, where Route 66 ends.

In Lies, we’re introduced to a new character, Margot Madison-Cross. She’s middle aged, a widow who is still acutely missing her medical doctor husband, Harvey.   While not a doctor herself, Margot was the woman behind the successful man. Despite their wealth which provides Margot with a many roomed luxury condo with a spectacular Lake Michigan view, no need to work for a living, enough money to afford a live-in butler and housekeeper, worldwide travel and a sophisticated lifestyle, Margot still acutely feels the loss of her beloved husband and best friend.

Margot’s niece, Camille, like Harvey, Margot’s husband, is a doctor and after completing her residency, she was influenced by her uncle to join his best friend’s medical practice located in a small town along Route 66 in the Mojave Desert not far from Barstow. Camille’s father, Graham, is also a Californian, but lives in the much more comfortable and affluent Palm Springs. When Graham calls Margot to tell her to come out to California right away – he needs to see her; it’s a matter of life and death – Margot is overwhelmed by waves of vague uneasiness and unexplained dread for her niece’s wellbeing.

Of course, this is a mystery and there’s more than one of them to be solved. M.M. dishes up a murder, hidden love affairs, plenty of secrets and lots of lies. Margot has to solve them all in a place and among people she knows little about. Can she protect her niece, help her brother and find the answers she needs before there’s another murder?

I always enjoy a good mystery, but in this one I found even more than intrigue and a murder to be solved. Reading M.M.’s Lies of Convenience made me consider all the different kinds of lies we tell and about the nuances of truth telling. Outright lies, skirting the truth lies, little white lies, whoppers, or lies of omission. Are they told out of kindness and motivated by the desire to protect others? Are they told to make ourselves feel better? Or for self protection to avoid the wrath of those to whom we’re telling the lies? It made me think about the lies in my own life.

On the light side, there’s a crotchety old, secretive cowboy flirting with Margot and some sparks between Camille and the cute local law enforcement officer. I’m hoping M.M. tells us more about these two characters in the next Margot Madison-Cross mystery.

Lies of Convenience is available in print or eBook format from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other retailers as are the M.M. Gornell’s other three titles: Uncle Si’s Secret; Death of a Perfect Man; and Reticence of Ravens, a Route 66 Mystery.