ONCE UPON A LIE

The creator of the college-themed cozies in the Murder 101 series (Extra Credit, 2012, etc.) goes big in her first stand-alone.

Maeve Conlon’s life is finally back on track after her husband, Cal, left her for her beautiful Brazilian best friend, Gabriela. A Culinary Institute grad, she’s made a success of the Comfort Zone, the gourmet shop she owns in Westchester County. And she’s making progress toward mastering single parenting: Her older daughter, Rebecca, is acing high school, although her younger daughter, Heather, may be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Maeve finds time to help her ex-cop father, Jack, adjust to life in Buena del Sol, the care community he moved into when Alzheimer’s disease started stealing his memory. She also summons up the courage to accompany Jo, her longtime friend and business partner, on her foray into speed dating. But her most promising prospect of the evening, the charmingly evasive Rodney, turns out to be a police detective. And Rodney’s got his sights set on Jack for the murder of Maeve’s cousin, Sean Donovan, who was found a short time ago in Van Cortlandt Park with his pants down and most of his head gone. Although there was no love lost between Maeve and Sean, who bullied her mercilessly as a child, Maeve needs to pay attention to her cousin’s murder, if only to protect Jack. Soon, Maeve finds her life again spiraling out of control as multiple allegiances compete for her limited supply of patience.

Grace and humor mark this tale of a woman trying to protect her family without losing herself.