POISONED AGAIN

Poisoned Again
by Fred Woolverton
276pages
ISBN: 1-931742-77-4
Treble Heart Books
2004
$ 13.50 paperback

Pic Piccolo, a photojournalist, has an abundance of bad luck. He really wants to do the right thing, tries to do the right thing now, but has a unique talent for getting in situations that are completely out of his control.

In Poisoned Again, Pic discovers that his niece has been arrested for murder. Since her family is extremely dysfunctional, Pic decides to visit his niece who claims to be innocent. Pic wants to help her so he makes the decision to investigate the murder as a photojournalist.

Pic won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative reporting, however, he had to give it back since it was discovered that he had manipulated some of his work to make a better story.

Since that time, he has usually done freelance work due to the loss of his reputation and reliability.

Anne, Pic’s niece, constantly tells him that she is innocent and is being framed for the murders of an elderly couple who everyone seems to love, a retired teacher and his wife. What is strange to Pic is the expensive, original art work in their house that a retired teacher could not have afforded.

Throughout this investigative process, Pic manages to get himself in more trouble and always seems to be near the newest murdered victims. Without the skills of 007, Pic is constantly bruised and banged up, and wondering if his niece was framed. The problem with his investigating is that the more he investigates, the more people want to kill him.

Fred Woolverton has a varied background while now working as a computer database administrator in Alabama. His variety of careers is obviously a character trait that he injects into his main character, Pic Piccolo.

Poisoned Again is a fun, fast-paced novel that has the reader wondering if the main character will live to the end of the book. I definitely look forward to future Pic Piccolo novels.