Nashville Circuit Court judge Gaydens mixed debut tracks a tragic love story that begins at a Tennessee Christian summer camp in 1896. There, pastors daughter Anna Dennis, 16, and Walter Dotson, a third-year Vanderbilt medical student, fall hard for each other. By winter, hes interning at her local hospital, and their courtship and early married lifeincluding a stint in Vienna, where daughter Mabel is bornhave all the trappings of a conventional romance. By 1908, the family numbers four and settles in Gallatin, Tenn., near Anna and Walters hometowns, but a miscarriage sets the stage for murder and scandal. Gaydens writing in the romance sections is flat and unconvincing, but perks up in the last quarter, when the novel goes full-on procedural, delivering the murder trial and the related media coverage in close detail. The trial, based on real events, is intriguing, the verdict unexpected and period detail adds depth. (Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.