Deed So by Katharine A. Russell - Book Review

Deed So by Kath Russell

Product Description from Amazon:

It is 1962, and Agnes Hayden Bashford, Haddie, a brainy Southern teen from a tradition-bound family, dreams of breaking free from suffocating expectations placed on girls and from Wicomico Corners. She vows to escape to the exhilarating world beyond its narrow borders, like her handsome, older friend Gideon Albright who is going to Vietnam. A series of shocking incidents brings the outside world crashing down on her peaceful village, exposing long-buried family secrets and setting Haddie on a collision course with an unstable firebrand who will have to silence her to protect his identity. Haddie witnesses the fatal shooting of a black teen by a white down-on-his-luck farmer trying to protect his retarded son. The resulting murder trial attracts outside agitators and political aspirants, and pits townspeople against each other. Excited about being a witness in the trial, Haddie sees her moment of notoriety dissolve into frustration and discomfort and tragedy claim the people around her. The racially-charged case exposes civic fault lines and secrets within Haddie's own family, shattering her comfortable home life, and unleashes an arsonist who terrorizes the community by night. In Deed So, a young girl and an entire town lose their innocence in the last year of innocence, the year before the Kennedy assassination, the civil rights struggle, feminist activism and the Vietnam War changed America forever.

A hearty story, in some ways reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird . Haddie witness's a murder and  now the town she is so bored in, is overwhelming her. Her friend Gideon who she would love to have as a boyfriend, goes back to war and comes back a mess. The murder trial sends people from Washington invading their small town of Wicomico, creating havoc and her family uncovers some shocking secrets. 

The story definitely has the captivating, engrossing page turning factor !! Highly recommend.

More about the author from her website:

Author Biography 

Before transitioning to a life of full time writing and care-giving, Katharine Russell enjoyed a career in the biotechnology industry. A seasoned executive with over 35 years in biopharmaceutical marketing and communications management, Russell, founded RWWR Associates to assist startup companies with strategic planning and positioning. Formerly, Russell was president of Russell-Welsh Strategic Life Science Communications, Inc., a public relations practice she sold to Grey Advertising in 2000.
Previously, Russell was senior vice president and a member of the operating committee of Cetus Corporation, one of the first biotechnology companies (now part of Chiron), where she helped Wall Street evaluate some of the first products of genetic engineering including PCR technology, interleukin-2, beta interferon and genetically altered crops. She also held various management positions at Baxter International at headquarters and in the Artificial Organs Division. Previously, she was vice president of a film company serving the pharmaceutical industry.
Her clients have included Genentech, Affymax, Cell Genesys, Abbott, Searle, Becton-Dickinson, Marion Laboratories, Mallinckrodt and the American College of Surgeons. She also was a founder and chief executive officer of MyEtribute, Inc., an eCommerce company offering information, products and services for mature companion animals and veterinarians.
Russell received a BA degree in history from Northwestern University, holds an MS degree in journalism from Boston University and an MBA in marketing from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern. She received her certificate in creative writing from the UCLA Extension Writer's Program in 2009.
Russell is a trustee of St. Mary's College of Maryland and served on the Board of Visitors for Goucher College for six years. A member of the Board of Visitors of Northwestern University's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (1992-2007), Russell served on that body's steering committee (2000-2007). She was a member of the Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health Advisory Board from 2000-06.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Palm Springs Writer's Guild, the International Association of Business Communicators, the Women's National Book Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Russell divides her time between Palm Desert, California, and Baltimore, Maryland.