From Publishers Weekly
Anthony-winner Muller delivers another stand-alone (after 2001's Point Deception) set in northern California's fictional Soledad County that fails to measure up to her bestselling Sharon McCone series (Dead Midnight, etc.). After being unjustly suspected of murdering his missing ex-wife, Gwen, Matthew Lindstrom moved from Minnesota, where he taught college photography, to British Columbia, where he operates an excursion boat. When 14 years later an anonymous phone caller tells him Gwen is living in Cyanide Wells, Calif., as Ardis Coleman, Matt goes there to find her and clear his name. Hired by the local newspaper, which has won a Pulitzer for a series on the murder of a gay couple penned by the erratic Ardis, Matt discovers that his ex-wife is in a lesbian relationship with hot-headed newspaper editor Carly McGuire, with whom she shares a mixed-race daughter. When Ardis and the child vanish, Matt and Carly join forces to track them down. While Muller vividly paints the rugged northern California coast with its decaying towns and abandoned logging and mining areas now giving way to retirement communities, she leaves out her usual complicated characters and plot twists. Matt too easily gets the newspaper job, elicits confidences and uncovers secrets. The villains are pretty obvious, as is the secret behind the gay murders. Muller fans may prefer to wait for another McCone novel.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
A woman named Gwen Lindstrom disappears from her marriage and life, leaving a faked scene suggesting foul play that puts her blameless husband, Matt, under suspicion of murder. Fourteen years later, Matt learns that Gwen, now Ardis, is living in Cyanide Wells, California, apparently a mother and apparently in a stable same-sex relationship. But guess what--all is not as it seems this time either. The female voices are read by Sandra Burr and the male ones by J. Charles. This is only fitfully successful, but whether because the actors aren't up to it or because the dialogue is unreadable is hard to tell. A mildly entertaining exercise, but never very believable, though the production is slick. B.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
A stand-alone story from the author of the Sharon McCone series. Matt Lindstrom leaves the life he has rebuilt in British Columbia to search for his ex-wife, Gwen. After she vanished from their California home, innuendo that he had murdered her ruined him, forcing his relocation. He discovers that she's in a Soledad County town called Cyanide Wells, living with a lesbian lover and an adopted child. When he goes there--For revenge? for solace?--he discovers she has taken off again, this time with the child. He and Carly McGuire, publisher of the county newspaper and Gwen's partner, perform an uneasy dance as they try to bring her back. Gwen has written a Pulitzer Prize-winning story about the local murder of a gay couple, and in tracing the clues from it, from a passel of local secrets, and from Gwen's complicated emotional life, Matt and Carly uncover the depths of Gwen's duplicity to both of them. The relationship between these two prickly characters, male and female, straight and gay, is the most intriguing aspect of this somewhat overplotted but entertaining whodunit. There's also a genuinely cool use of the Web site, Librarians Index to the Internet (http://lii.org). GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
A hard, four-hour drive north of San Francisco leads to sparsely populated Soledad County, a combination of spectacular seashore, inland forests, and small towns steeped in gold-mining history. One of those towns is Cyanide Wells, now an artsy community, whose name comes from the miners’ use of cyanide to refine ore and the time the area’s water supply was tragically poisoned.

To Matthew Lindstrom, that sinister legacy is ironically appropriate for the place he finally expects to find his ex-wife, Gwen. Fourteen years earlier, her baffling disappearance branded him a murderer and destroyed his reputation and career as a photographer. Suddenly, after all this time, an anonymous phone caller tells him that Gwen is alive - and well aware of what she has done. Matt comes to Cyanide Wells looking for answers...and revenge.

Here, where the surrounding thick forest conceals twisted paths and old sins, Matt works to uncover the details of Gwen’s new life. But before he can confront her, his ex vanishes once more. With his future again threatened by suspicion, Matt must join forces with Carly McGuire - a local woman with secrets of her own - and begin a hunt through Soledad’s untamed landscape and an interior geography of betrayal and darkness. There perhaps lies the truth about past crimes and Gwen’s fate...as well as Matt’s own.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In a change of pace from her bestselling series featuring San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone, award-winning author Marcia Muller offers readers a fascinating new stand-alone mystery in Cyanide Wells. The artsy town of Cyanide Wells stands amid the old-growth forests of Soledad County in northern California. The town's name harks back to its history during the Gold Rush era, when cyanide used to refine valuable ore resulted in tragedy. These days, however, it doesn't take poison to bring turmoil to the town. Some people carry trouble along with them. Thanks to his wife, Gwen, Matt Lindstrom learned plenty about trouble. Fourteen years ago she'd disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The belief that he might be responsible ruined Matt's life and his photographic career. Eventually, he'd moved, started over￯﾿ﾽand given up hope of finding out what had really happened to Gwen. Then, out of the blue, he gets an anonymous call saying Gwen is in Cyanide Wells￯﾿ﾽand that she'd meant for him to be blamed for her death. Now Matt isn't sure whether he's looking for closure or revenge, but whichever it is, he's heading for Cyanide Wells, where past and present will finally come together. His planned confrontation goes awry, though, when Gwen disappears again, leaving bloodstains in the hallway of her home. This time suspicion rests on her lover, Carly McGuire, who is as determined as Matt is to find the elusive woman￯﾿ﾽand the child she's taken with her. Spectacular scenery, compelling characters, and an intricate plot make this a powerful, passionate mystery. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"A hard, four-hour drive north of San Francisco leads to sparsely populated Soledad County, a combination of spectacular seashore, inland forests, and small towns steeped in gold-mining history. One of those towns is Cyanide Wells, now an artsy community, whose name comes from the miners' use of cyanide to refine ore and the time the area's water supply was tragically poisoned." "To Matthew Lindstrom, that sinister legacy is ironically appropriate for the place he finally expects to find his ex-wife, Gwen. Fourteen years earlier, her baffling disappearance branded him a murderer and destroyed his reputation and career as a photographer. Suddenly, after all this time, an annonymous phone caller tells him that Gwen is alive - and well aware of what she has done. Matt comes to Cyanide Wells looking for answers...and revenge." Here, where the surrounding thick forest conceals twisted paths and old sins, Matt works to uncover the details of Gwen's new life. But before he can confront her, his ex vanishes once more. With his future again threatened by suspicion, Matt must join forces with Carly McGuire - a local woman with secrets of her own - and begin a hunt through Soledad's untamed landscape and an interior geography of betrayal and darkness. There perhaps lies the truth about past crimes and Gwen's fate...as well as Matt's own.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Anthony-winner Muller delivers another stand-alone (after 2001's Point Deception) set in northern California's fictional Soledad County that fails to measure up to her bestselling Sharon McCone series (Dead Midnight, etc.). After being unjustly suspected of murdering his missing ex-wife, Gwen, Matthew Lindstrom moved from Minnesota, where he taught college photography, to British Columbia, where he operates an excursion boat. When 14 years later an anonymous phone caller tells him Gwen is living in Cyanide Wells, Calif., as Ardis Coleman, Matt goes there to find her and clear his name. Hired by the local newspaper, which has won a Pulitzer for a series on the murder of a gay couple penned by the erratic Ardis, Matt discovers that his ex-wife is in a lesbian relationship with hot-headed newspaper editor Carly McGuire, with whom she shares a mixed-race daughter. When Ardis and the child vanish, Matt and Carly join forces to track them down. While Muller vividly paints the rugged northern California coast with its decaying towns and abandoned logging and mining areas now giving way to retirement communities, she leaves out her usual complicated characters and plot twists. Matt too easily gets the newspaper job, elicits confidences and uncovers secrets. The villains are pretty obvious, as is the secret behind the gay murders. Muller fans may prefer to wait for another McCone novel. Mystery Guild Main Selection. (July 16) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This is one of Muller's rare standalone novels set in the fictional Northern California county of Soledad. After being a prime suspect in the murder of his missing ex-wife, photographer Matt Lindstrom moves to British Columbia to operate a fishing guide business. Fourteen years later, his new life is upset when an anonymous phone call informs him that Gwen is living in the small town of Cyanide Wells under the name of Ardis Coleman. Matt hotfoots it to clear his name and confront his ex, only to find her in a lesbian relationship with a newspaper publisher and raising a mixed-race daughter. Within a couple of days Gwen/Ardis and the child vanish and the mystery is on. While this is not one of the author's better stories-the listener will guess the truth long before the protagonists-the reading is competently done by that old pro Sandra Burr, with J. Charles performing the chapters from Matt's point of view. The narration is so good that the listener will forget that the tale is rather lame and the coincidences rather too many and too convenient. Not an essential purchase, but still enjoyable for Muller fans.-Barbara Perkins, formerly with Irving P.L., TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

A woman named Gwen Lindstrom disappears from her marriage and life, leaving a faked scene suggesting foul play that puts her blameless husband, Matt, under suspicion of murder. Fourteen years later, Matt learns that Gwen, now Ardis, is living in Cyanide Wells, California, apparently a mother and apparently in a stable same-sex relationship. But guess what—all is not as it seems this time either. The female voices are read by Sandra Burr and the male ones by J. Charles. This is only fitfully successful, but whether because the actors aren't up to it or because the dialogue is unreadable is hard to tell. A mildly entertaining exercise, but never very believable, though the production is slick. B.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews