THE WRONG GIRL

A young woman’s murder, which orphans two children, gives a reporter a story she can’t resist.

Jane Ryland has finally settled into her role as reporter at the Register when her old co-worker Tuck approaches Jane about an off-the-clock investigation she’d like Jane to take on. Thanks to the people at Brannigan Family and Children Services, Tuck was recently reunited with her birth mother, but some details of the reunion have made Tuck suspicious that she may in fact be the wrong girl, matched with a mother who isn’t her own. Jane’s former and potentially future flame Detective Jake Brogan is saddled with another case that involves working with the child welfare system when he’s called in to investigate a murder that leaves two children without a family. Getting wind of the case, Jane schemes to get information out of Jake, his partner, Detective DeLuca, and the staff at the Department of Family Services. Though most folks seem wise to Jane’s tricks, she’s sure she can find a weak link in the chain that will lead her to some clues to investigate. All this drama distracts Jane from Tuck’s quest but doesn’t stop some of the staff at the Brannigan from doing a bit of investigating of their own. Threads of the story are woven together in a net that threatens to ensnare Jane if she can’t unravel them first.

The complex storyline, which approaches child welfare from many different angles, provides Ryan (The Other Woman, 2012, etc.) with a plot that never allows the reader a moment of breathing room.