At the center of the story are multiple murder mysteries. Who did you originally think the perpetrators were and why?

At the center of Carolina Moonset are multiple murder mysteries. Who did you originally think the perpetrators were, and what did you think their motives were?

I felt strongly that great uncle David was somehow involved in at least one of the murders. Goldman lays plenty of red herrings in his direction and I fell for all of them. I wasn’t exactly sure what his motive was although I thought perhaps he was interested in Gail,then Goldman provided a more concrete motive for the most recent murder. At one point I thought Gail was the killer but that she and Virginia were a couple. I assumed Thomas Hammond had something to do with the older murders until more details emerged. I considered maybe Lawrence had something to do with Roy Hammond’s disappearance or that several people working together had arranged it. The motive was revenge for his killing Delphi. I thought whoever killed Thomas had stolen the gun from the garage and was framing Marshall. I did finally pick up on all the references to pairs and sets in the book and when the police said they had the gun, which seemed improbable, I looked at that avenue more closely. I never felt that Marshall was the killer.

I agree with gerrieb, there were many else clues and leads, and I fell for all of them! It was well done and kept me interested. So many people had valid motives, seemed to have secrets, and it was only when we got more background detail that many suspects fell of fmy radar. The thing that threw me off the most was the police finding the gun, that really messed with me!

I did not think it was the father...too much of a red herring. At one point I considered the mother...then began to suspect Gail.

I never believed that the father was guilty, but I did suspect Gail. I too was thrown off by the second gun and thought it was a nice plot twist. When Gail started throwing herself at our hero, I knew something was up.

It kind of had me guessing. Did not want to think it was the father. And was so surprised about a second gun. Thought Uncle David might have had some involvement. Who would have ever guessed the real killer. Good for Joey and Leela to figure it out!

I honestly did not know. Every time I thought I had a clue, Goldman would lay out another possibility, which really kept my interest.

Have read way too many murder mysteries to not have been on the right track in this whodunit. I knew the father had some involvement, but was not sure of the extent.
His was the only real surprise.

At first I thought the father did it, at least the recent murder, but then I had doubts about that and honestly did not know who did it. It kept me reading rapidly so I could find out the solution!

It seemed Roy Hammond was always the prime suspect in the earlier murders. But when it came to Thomas Hammond's murder, I wondered for a time if Virginia had done it, until I learned the truth about her broken engagement. I also thought Lawrence might have done it, but I didn't feel he would do anything that might hurt Marshall. And we never did find out how Marshall's gun got back in the tackle box, with one bullet fired.

In the beginning I thought that the author might have had Marshall not remember that he had done it because of his dementia. However, I also know there will be red herrings and the culprit will not emerge until the end. I was disappointed in the ending--not who did it but that the murderer would have been smart enough to murder but not smart enough to see through the way that Joey got the confession.

Right on, Gerib!...Goldman had us all guessing, but never overlook the spouse...you just never know.

I knew that it had to be Roy Hammond that killed Delphi and Trip Patterson, but I believed that Roy's family, including his brother Thomas, helped him escape after the murders to avoid prosecution and he was still hiding out somewhere, and that maybe he had returned to kill his brother to tie up loose ends.
At one point, I thought that Thomas' killer was Uncle David, or Gail, or Carol, or Marshall or even Virginia or Lawrence. Everyone seemed to have a motive.
This was a great whodunnit.

The multiple murder mysteries were what first attracted my interest in this book. However, I found the characters to be as interesting as the plot!
As to whodunnit, I can’t believe that I didn’t think about one of The South’s other “peculiar institutions” (besides Human Bondage)… Dueling.
A great “twist” among many others in this book!