A homicide investigator is plagued by old cases that won’t stay closed.
It was the disappearance of Emily Sherman that first brought Lucinda Pierce (Twisted Reason, 2011, etc.) onto the homicide squad. Thirty-year veteran John Boswell put together a case against Emily’s stepmother, Martha, but died of a heart attack before the trial ended, leaving rookie Lucinda to complete his testimony. Now, Emily’s body is found where it shouldn’t be: in the cellar of a rental property whose most recent tenant was almost certainly serial killer Mack Rogers. While backtracking the Sherman investigation, Lucinda gets a second shock. A new trial has been ordered for U.S. Representative Chris Phillips, convicted on Lucinda’s evidence of killing his third wife. In the meantime, he’s out on bond, terrorizing his second wife, Gloria Martinez, and fighting to get custody of his son Trevor. While Lucinda tries to keep the teenager safe from his lethal dad, a second youngster lays claim to her attention. Charley Spencer is arrested after she’s found in a vandalized model home when she should be at school. Charley knows which of her middle school classmates trashed the place, but getting anyone to believe her is next to impossible. Can Lucinda find time to help her without neglecting her two newly reopened cases?
Multiple threads are not Fanning’s friends as she tries to decide whether she’s writing a police procedural, a psychological thriller or neither.
