SUCH A PERFECT WIFE

Intrepid—and stylish!—crime reporter Bailey Weggins finds herself on the front line of a murder investigation in White’s (The Gutsy Girl Handbook: Your Manifesto for Success, 2018, etc.) latest.

When news of missing jogger Shannon Blaine goes viral, Bailey heads to upstate New York to investigate and report for online magazine Crime Beat. Beautiful Shannon appears to have led an ideal life; she had a handsome, successful husband, two adorable kids, a condo in Florida, and a schedule flexible enough for the ritual of her daily jog. But of course there were also some red flags. She had recently started attending Catholic services after years of lapse, and her best friend noted that she seemed “kind of off” when they spoke early on the day of her disappearance. Then Bailey and local reporter Alice Hatfield get an anonymous tip that sends them to an abandoned Catholic retreat center where they discover Shannon’s body—as well as two others—wrapped in trash bags and hidden in a closet. Racing against time as the story cools, Bailey must discover the truth behind Shannon’s perfect facade—before the murderer decides to get rid of loose ends. There’s not much depth to White’s mystery or to Bailey, though she does suffer some loss during the course of the book, but it’s fun and fast-paced, easy to read. Bailey is, in many ways, a 21st-century descendant of Edna Buchanan’s crime reporter Britt Montero, who ran around Miami for her true-crime scoops. The setting may be colder, but like Britt, Bailey is fearless, determined, and always fashionable.

A grown-up Nancy Drew for grown-up girl detectives.