IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN

A letter from her dead mother is a game-changer for a true-crime radio host and blogger.

Although Kit Doyle leads a KWEL Radio show about true crime with on-air partner Farley Black, she never expected her own life to turn into one of the stories. But when her otherwise healthy mother dies suddenly, a note she leaves for Kit changes everything, and now Kit doesn’t know whom or what to trust. Although she wants to turn to her father and radio mentor, the Mighty Mick Doyle, it seems as if he’s known the truth the whole time. Even worse, Kit’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Richard, may have known more about Kit’s life than she ever did. Now Kit’s stuck trying to fit the pieces around the single name that supposedly holds the key to her past: Kendra Trafton. Since Kit, an active blogger, apparently doesn’t know about Google, Farley lets Kit use their show to try to find Kendra. Kit and Farley worry that the money backing their show, supplied by the Brantingham family in the hope of solving their son Alex’s murder, will dry up if they switch to Kit’s story. Kit figures a reasonable course of action is to solve Alex’s murder herself, but the Brantinghams close ranks as closely as her own family. Then the radio station gets a lead on Kendra’s whereabouts, and Kit’s co-worker and friend Tamera Flowers offers to catch a flight and meet with the supposed informant. Kit’s woes are interwoven with the story of Rena Pace, a friend of Kendra’s who’s in a mess of a marriage and just trying to get by. Long before the stories come together, Hill (Last Words, 2014, etc.), by juxtaposing two seemingly unrelated plot strands, gives away the mystery.

Simple to understand and clearly, if unimaginatively, written, this series debut offers a protagonist with a lot to learn.