The Chessmen by Peter May

The Chessmen is the 3rd book in Peter May's trilogy, set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  I finished this book and immediately felt like going back to the first book, The Blackhouse, and beginning the tale again.  I have loved these books, and I'll be sorry to leave the Isle of Lewis and Ex-Detective Inspector Fin McLeod.

After the dramatic conclusion to the 2nd book, The Lewis Man, Fin has taken a job as head of security for a local landowner.  While investigating illegal activity, Fin runs across several old buddies, one by the name of Whistler Macaskill.  Fin and Whistler were good friends as teenagers when they were both at school in the town of Stornoway.  They were also both connected with a local rock band that ended up having great success with their Celtic music.

Whistler and Fin are caught in a serious storm while in the mountains and near a small loch.  When the storm is over, they realize that the loch is gone, drained away - a rare 'bog burst'.  What is left is a lot of mud and a gruesome discovery of a light airplane with an occupant that is very dead.  Both men recognize the plane as one that belonged to another school friend and the leader of the band, Roddy Mackenzie.  This plane and Roddy himself had disappeared 17 years before.  Fin realizes that he is the only one shocked to find the plane.  What did Whistler know about the disappearance and what other secrets has he been keeping?

Each of these books has given us some background into Fin McLeod's life growing up on the Isle of Lewis.  The Chessmen reveals his teen years and how events during that time period shaped his decisions.  The story goes back and forth from the present to those school days, introducing us to yet more characters from the island and bringing others that we've already met into the narrative.  The setting is spectacular and I was fascinated by the descriptions.

Another interesting part concerns the Lewis Chessmen, an actual discovery in the 19th century of 78 chess pieces, probably created in Norway in about the 12th century.  These chess pieces play a tangential part in this book as well as inspiring the name.

The story moves at a slower pace for much of the book.  I was almost a little disappointed that there were not more "aha!" moments for me.  And then I got to the sweet spot.  Ah, I thought.  There it is.  This is why I love Peter May's writing and this set of books.  A speech made by Fin toward the end of the book brought tears to my eyes and prompted my desire to pick up the first book and begin again.  This is a great trilogy.  Highly, highly recommended.

  

Weekend Cooking - I went on a cookbook spree!

This is my first time participating in Weekend Cooking, which is hosted by Beth Fish Reads each weekend.  I have read Weekend Cooking posts by others for years and think I finally have a few things to say.  Not sure how often I'll participate, but this week I went on cookbook buying spree.  And I'm excited!

You know, sometimes you just look at your cookbooks or your recipe box or in your refrigerator and you think, I am so bored with my usual little "go-to" meals.  Eventually spring will no doubt come and I'd like to have a few new things to try.  Kind of a spring cleaning for my cooking.  For years, when I worked full time and after we were empty nesters, it was easy for us to eat very few dinner meals at home.  We were in a big city and restaurants and take out were everywhere.  After we moved to the country about 3 years ago and I no longer worked, I had to do a major overhaul to my dinner thinking.  It had been a long time since I had cooked on a regular basis, I almost forgot how.  So I dusted off my cookbooks, acquired a few more, and took to meal planning again.

My friend Les, who blogs at Prairie Horizons, has been sharing some recipes in the last few weeks from The Skinnytaste Cookbook.  They have looked very tasty and also healthy.  Which is a good thing right?  I've been flipping through this one since it came and I've hit upon a few that look easy and flavorful - like Chicken Pasta Caprese.  We love Caprese Salad.  Why not add some chicken and pasta?  Or how about Teriyaki-Glazed Grilled Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa?  I'm terrible with cooking pork chops and this could be a winner.

I saw Sheet Pan Suppers last week on Beth Fish Reads and decided that I would order that one as well.  The title continues with "120 Recipes For Simple, Surprising, Hands-off Meals Straight From The Oven".  Sign me up!  How about BBQ Chicken Nachos?  Or Breakfast Berry Cobbler?  Yum!  I'm definitely going to try Balsamic Shrimp and Summer Vegetables.

And then because I needed to spend a few more dollars to make shipping free, I was drawn to the only Ree Drummond cookbook that I don't already own - The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Food From My Frontier.  Because, honestly, who doesn't need more Pioneer Woman recipes?  Well, maybe we don't "need" them but, wow, the flavors (don't look at the calorie count).  So, I know I'll be making some Chicken Tortilla Soup and maybe some Corn Casserole With Peppers.  Oh, and there is Tres Leches Cake and Blackberry Chip Ice Cream.  Sigh.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with some of these lovely, lovely recipes.  I'll be back in a while with more cooking ruminations.  See y'all!    

The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill

The Risk of Darkness is the 3rd book in the DCI Simon Serrailler series, written by Susan Hill.  I have been so pleased with my experiences listening to Steven Pacey's narration.  And this book was another winner for me.  If you are looking for a crime novel series that includes multiple characters, intriguing mysteries with a slower pace, and some dark symbolism and themes, this might be the one for you.

In addition to updates of the Serrailler family and work colleagues of Simon's, The Risk of Darkness carries over a missing child storyline.  In the previous book, a little boy was taken and the search continues and expands when Simon is called to consult with police in Yorkshire over another child abduction.  There is a new staff member at the cathedral, a female priest named Jane, who crosses paths with many of the characters.  Simon's sister, Dr. Cat Deerbon has a patient suffering from Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (Mad Cow) Disease.  Her husband is virtually crazed with grief and anger and becomes more so as the story continues.  The Serrailler family experiences quite a bit of upheaval and some changes are in the works.  All in all, an absorbing book.

I was glad to see the continuation of the missing child case.  That had been left dangling and the effects had been felt by all the characters.  There was a definite theme of grief again in this book, especially the effects felt by family members when their loved ones are lost to them by death or by criminal actions.  Several difficult mother/daughter relationships appear, most of which made this reader want to go hug her own daughter.  A new DC is transferred in and becomes part of Simon's team.  He won't be well-liked, especially by DS Nathan Coates or indeed by anyone.  I'm not sure exactly what part that person played in this book and kind of hope he doesn't appear again.  Probably a hope in vain though as sometimes prickly characters serve to agitate things and keep others on edge.

Simon's brother-in-law, Dr. Chris Deerbon, is at a fork in the road of his career and Simon's sister, Cat, is unsure what lies ahead for their medical practice.  And Simon himself, well, there were multiple occasions in this book when I wanted to smack him.  Sometimes, he is his own worst enemy and his persistence in distancing himself from others, unless it's on his own terms, is hard to watch.  Here's hoping that he will develop a better sense of understanding for women and his relationship with them soon.  Else, he is likely to remain a lonely man.

The next book in the series is The Vows of Silence and I've already got it loaded and ready to go.  Susan Hill's series is one that I'm finding compulsively readable and one that I recommend.  

Waiting on Wednesday - Behind Closed Doors

This is a weekly event that highlights a book we can't wait to be published.  It's hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I am so pleased that the second book in Elizabeth Haynes' series featuring DCI Louisa Smith will be coming out at the end of this month.  So excited, so excited.  I read the first book in this series, Under a Silent Moon, at the end of January.  My review is here.  It was a very decent start and now we get to learn more about Lou Smith and her major crimes team.  Here's the scoop:

Behind Closed Doors

by Elizabeth Haynes

Publication Date - March 31st

An old case makes Detective Inspector Louisa Smith some new enemies in this spellbinding second installment of New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Haynes’s Briarstone crime series that combines literary suspense and page-turning thrills.

Ten years ago, 15-year-old Scarlett Rainsford vanished while on a family holiday in Greece. Was she abducted, or did she run away from her severely dysfunctional family? Lou Smith worked the case as a police constable, and failing to find Scarlett has been one of the biggest regrets of her career. No one is more shocked than Lou to learn that Scarlett has unexpectedly been found during a Special Branch raid of a brothel in Briarstone.

Lou and her Major Crime team are already stretched working two troubling cases: nineteen-year-old Ian Palmer was found badly beaten; and soon after, bar owner Carl McVey was found half-buried in the woods, his Rolex and money gone. While Lou tries to establish the links between the two cases, DS Sam Hollands works with Special Branch to question Scarlett. What happened to her? Where has she been until now? How did she end up back here? And why is her family—with the exception of her emotionally fragile younger sister, Juliette—less than enthusiastic about her return?

When another brutal assault and homicide are linked to the McVey murder, Lou’s cases collide, and the clues all point in one terrifying direction. As the pressure and the danger mount, it becomes clear that the silent, secretive Scarlett holds the key to everything.

Top Ten Book Series For Readers Who Like British Crime Shows...or any crime show for that matter

This is a weekly event, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, where bloggers relate their "top ten" of a certain topic.  This week's topic - Ten Books For Readers Who Like _________.  As usual, my list will relate to mysteries or crime novels and, also as usual, I have tweaked it a bit by suggesting books in a series.  I mean, who doesn't like it when the story continues and continues?  I want to know what happens next and next and so on.  Maybe that's why I like TV crime shows, especially British crime shows, so well and that relates back to the series thing.  Anyway, here we go.  I've divided these into sections.


If you like British Crime Shows that are essentially police procedurals...like Midsomer Murders, Inspector Lynley or Lewis or even Wire in the Blood:

1. DI Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder - I've only read the first two, Birdman and The Treatment and really liked both of those.  This series is a little, well maybe more than a little, gritty.  Set in London, at least to begin, Caffery is a damaged individual who brings his past along with him.  This gives him great insights into the criminals that he hunts.

2. DC Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey - I've read the first two books, The Burning and The Reckoning.  My review of The Reckoning is here.  I really like Maeve's style and am enjoying getting to know her colleagues as well.  Maeve is ambitious and getting used to a new DI, Josh Derwent.  Look forward to reading more as I think there are depths in several characters that could be quite interesting.  

3. DC Lacey Flint series by Sharon (S.J.) Bolton - I've read all but the last book in Lacey's series.  And I plan to get to the latest, A Dark and Twisted Tide, very soon.  Lacey is a little odd and her life has been interesting.  Her relationship with DI Mark Joesbury keeps me guessing.  The first book in the series, Now You See Me, which has a Jack the Ripper angle.

If you like British Crime Shows but want your series set outside of Britain...try one of these:

4. DI Darko Dawson series by Kwei Quartey - Dawson works in Accra, Ghana, and that country's customs and procedures are an integral part of the books.  I've read the first book, Wife of the Gods, and discussed it with my mystery group.  Such an exotic setting by an author who is a native of Ghana.  Don't think that you'll be in Precious Ramotswe's territory.  Darko Dawson's world is a dangerous sort of place.

5. Police Sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir series by Quentin Bates - Gunna the Cop is a police officer, a widow and a mother of two teens.  She resides in Hvalvik, Iceland.  I really liked the first book, Frozen Assets.  Gunna normally just deals with minor crimes, but then a body is found in the harbor.  This is a different sort of procedural with a woman cop who has to try to find a murderer and also deal with teenagers.  Lovely.

6. Constable Molly Smith series by Vicki Delany - I recently wrote about the 5th book in this series here.  The setting - beautiful British Columbia and the little town of Trafalger - surrounded by mountains.  Molly "Moonlight" Smith is the daughter of two former hippies and has horrified her mother by becoming a police officer.  Her days are spent mostly dealing with tourists and local folks who stir up trouble.  However, occasionally, she gets to work with Sergeant John Winters and when Winters is involved, you can bet that the stakes are high.  The first book is In the Shadow of the Glacier.    

If you like British Crime Shows but want a more historical perspective...try one of these:

7. Scotland Yard Murder Squad series from 1890's London by Alex Grecian - You might like this series if you liked the crime show, Ripper Street.  Set at the end of the 19th century, just after the Ripper killings, the first book is The Yard.  I love this time period and really enjoyed the first book.  It's atmospheric, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of London in Victorian times.

8. Timothy Wilde, New York City copper series in the 1840's by Lyndsay Faye - Again, if you like crime shows set in the 19th century, like the TV show Copper, try this one.  The first book is The Gods of Gotham and it was also discussed by my mystery group.  A brutal time period.  Timothy Wilde starts out as a bartender and ends up a police officer at the beginnings of the New York City Police Department.  It's in a part of New York that is not gentrified at all.  Be prepared.

9. Maggie Hope series, a secretary turned MI-5 agent in 1940's London by Susan Elia MacNeal - Not exactly a police series, but if you enjoyed Foyle's War or Bletchley Park, you might want to try this lighter set of books.  Maggie Hope is an American who initially works for the Prime Minister, but moves on to more spy-ish work.  The first book is Mr. Churchill's Secretary and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

10. Claire Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, Police Chief, in Miller's Kill, New York series by Julia Spencer-Fleming - Again, this is not strictly a police procedural and is set in the present day, but if you've watched Grantchester, try this one - a melding of faith and police work.  I love, love, love this series.  And need to get caught up on it when I remember where I left off.  The first book is In the Bleak Midwinter.

I'll give you one more, just because I love it.  And I'd love to see a TV crime show that would compare to it.  Set on the Jersey Shore with the best set of characters, great humor, and the most interesting fried foods:

11. John Ceepak and Danny Boyle series by Chris Grabenstein - Set in Sea Haven, New Jersey, with a boardwalk, fried Oreos and other strange fried things, games galore, tourists that sometimes murder each other, and Ceepak and Boyle - the best, best cops.  The first book is Tilt-a-Whirl.  Read it and have a sunny, funderful day!

OK, I hope you will find some new books that are appealing to you.  I did not link to all the TV shows that I mentioned, you should be able to find info about them if you are interested.  Maybe one day soon, I'll do a blog post highlighting the British Crime shows that I've watched and loved.  There are a lot of them!

Do you have a book journal? I have a new one!

How do you keep track of your books - the ones you've read, the ones you want to read, the ones on your shelves, both real and virtual?  I have kept journals of what I've read since 1993.  I wish I had kept them my whole life.  I used to have a spreadsheet with the titles, authors, date read, and a bit of other info as well.  However, somehow I managed to delete that from my computer.  And I haven't wanted to take the time to recreate it.  I don't write a review, just the facts.  It is fun to look back occasionally and see what I was reading a year ago or 5 or 10 or even 20 years ago.

I want to share what I found recently because I love it!  I know that many of you know Iliana from Bookgirl's Nighstand.  If you don't know her and visit her blog, you should.  She's not only a fun blogger, but also a very creative book designer.  Her Etsy shop is Bookgirl's Studio.  Recently, she shared that she had hit a milestone for sales at her shop, and I remembered that I had been meaning to visit and take a look at the journals and paper goods she had available.  I found the perfect thing.  It's a Nancy Drew journal/pocket diary.

Here's how it came, all wrapped in pretty tissue paper and tied with a pink ribbon.

And here's my Nancy Drew journal, sitting on my old childhood bookcase next to a couple of other treasures. 

As you can see, Iliana used a Nancy Drew postcard for the cover.  There are about 50 pages inside and tucked into the back cover is a library pocket.  And yes, those are my old hands in the picture.  They used to look a little younger, but you know how that goes.

I'm very pleased with my journal and I'm debating whether to use it for my wishlist, TBR list or just for jotting down bookish quotes.  Maybe all 3.

Thanks so much for making the sweetest little pocket journal, Iliana!  We live in the same general area, but have not ever met face-to-face.  One day, perhaps.  In the meantime, we'll be good friends and mystery lovers here in our virtual world.  

In which the mystery book group considers what life might be like with The Last Policeman...

My mystery book group met on Wednesday evening and we all blew in to our branch library meeting room on the cold, cold wind.  OK, I know that cold to us is laughable for many of you.  But...geez, Louise, we don't like a whole lot of cold here.  It's why we live here and not in the other parts of our great nation.  And late February and early March have about gotten on our last nerve.  We admit it.  We are weather wimps.  It's March.  Bring on the bluebonnets (our lovely state flower that blooms in late March/April).

Our discussion book for this meeting - The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters.  And this was also a "bring a little potluck to share" meeting, so we filled our plates with delectables, including a kind of carrot ice cream/sorbet, which was excellent by the way, and settled in to talk books.

So, what have you heard about Ben Winters' trilogy of books that begins with The Last Policeman?  I knew that it was a sort of cross-genre story - a pre-apocalyptic US thrown in with the tale of Detective Hank Palace of the Concord, New Hampshire Police.  An asteroid is hurtling toward the earth.  It will hit in 6 months.  Life will cease to exist or certainly never be the same.  What would you do?  Are the police even still necessary?  Who cares about one man who is found dead in a situation that strongly suggests suicide?  Who cares?  Hank Palace cares.  Regardless of future events, life is precious and murder is not to be tolerated.

The Last Policeman won the Edgar award for Best Paperback Original for 2013.  This is actually a trilogy starting with this book and including Countdown City and World of Trouble.  We had a great time discussing it.  The consensus was that almost everyone liked the book.  Some had been a little skeptical that Winters could take a story about the world's end and make us care about crime solving as well.  Our opinion was that this author managed that task quite handily.  Only one of the group had read on in the trilogy at this point and so she was quizzed pretty thoroughly about what might be coming.  I must say, she did a good job not revealing any spoilers, while trying to answer the queries.

We spent quite a bit of time sharing, "What if?", which I think everyone had considered.  What would you do?  Would you quit your job and spend all your money and travel?  Would you become a hoarder and survivalist and hunker down, hoping to stay alive by some manner?  Would you go ahead and end your life now?  The book suggest many possibilities.  Some do indeed commit suicide.  New Orleans becomes a sort of Sin City, where anything goes.  Some turn to religion for themselves and also try to convince others to repent and pray.  Some think the government is hiding information and conspiracy theories abound.  And some think that this is just the time they might be able solve a few problems for themselves, by committing murder.  

The mystery itself was intriguing enough and there were several plot strands that were left unanswered, presumably for the next book.  We talked about Henry (Hank) Palace and what we learned of his life and family.  Some questioned the science and the specifics included about the asteroid.  I said that I kept waiting for Bruce Willis to show up and drill a hole to blow up Maya (as the asteroid was named).  All in all, a good read for us, although as often happens when we all agree, we sort of ran out of discussion topics.  I think most of us will continue on in the trilogy.

Next month is Greg Iles Month.  We'll be talking about Natchez Burning and other books by that author.        

Hell With the Lid Blown Off by Donis Casey

In the dedication of Hell With the Lid Blown Off, Donis Casey's 7th Alafair Tucker mystery:

"Nothing brings a family closer than spending an evening huddled together under a mattress in the bathtub, waiting for the storm to blow over."

I am so very pleased that I am now caught up on this wonderful series, set in Boynton, Oklahoma in the year 1916.  I love visiting with Alafair Tucker, her husband, Shaw, and her 10 children and various other family members and friends.  I've mentioned before that my mother's parents were born and raised in Oklahoma and reading these books has been like a visit with my great-grandparents and grandparents.  The same food.  The same way of speaking.  The same way of life.  And I love it.

Now, if you are from Oklahoma, Texas, or really any other state in the Midwest, you are likely familiar with summer storms, big, big storms.  And wind and dark clouds and the way that things can kind of go greenish and silent.  That is the time to head for the storm cellar or the innermost room of your house or the bathtub.  With the mattress.  And I am not kidding.  Been there, done that.  Tornadoes are serious business and that is what occurs in Hell With the Lid Blown Off.  Another couple of quotes and then I'll talk about the book itself:

"Do you see that big black cloud coming up in the southwest?"  She peered around the corner of the porch and caught her breath.  The advancing wall of thunderstorm loomed huge and black to the southwest.  Lightning strobed within the cloud with such frequency that it hurt her eyes.  "That's an ugly storm coming, all right!"

"the strong wind blowing in from the south shifted to the east.  The rain and hail that had been drumming down stopped suddenly and an unnatural calm descended, a moment of dead silence before the end of the world."

Donis Casey has written this book a little differently than others in the series.  Obviously, there is a big storm coming and a devastating tornado.  She has the 'before', the 'during', and the 'after'.  And she shifts the focus and point of view to many different characters.  Some of them are people we like and some are not.  This author also has written several of her books letting us get to know one or other of the Tucker children in a more comprehensive way.  This book is Ruth's book.

The storm and it's aftermath make up a big part of the tale, but one of the deaths that initially was attributed to the storm may not be storm-related.  Jubal Belton was a truly vile man, a man who liked to discover secrets and poke at people with them.  He has harassed Ruth Tucker and told her that she could either share her favors with him or he'd tell people that she did so anyway.  He's recently become a blackmailer and is abusive to his mother and other family members.  No one liked Jubal Belton and the fact that he is dead seems fortuitous.  Maybe too much so.  Sheriff Scott Tucker and his deputy, Trenton Calder, who has his eye on Ruth, need to try to discover how Jubal left this life.

There's lots of action here - injuries in the storm, new babies being born, World War I looms on the horizon, and now there is a murder to solve.  If you like a down home family mystery, you'll love Hell With the Lid Blown Off.  I highly recommend it.

Let the Devil Sleep by John Verdon

he heard a sound that raised the hairs on his neck...very close to his ear...harsh and sibilant.

'Let the devil sleep.'

John Verdon's books have the most interesting main character - at least I think so.  His name is Dave Gurney and he's known as the most decorated homicide copy in New York Police Department history.  Dave is now retired and he lives in upstate New York with his wife, Madeleine.  Let the Devil Sleep is the 3rd book in this series, and I was completely caught up in listening to the story over the last few days.  The audio is read by Robert Fass, who does an excellent job.

Dave is still recovering mentally and physically from the events that occurred in a previous book.  And he is still trying to convince himself that he is indeed retired.  The daughter of a journalist friend contacts him and asks for his help as a consultant on a documentary that she is making about a notorious serial murderer, The Good Shepherd.  In actuality, the film is about a series of interviews that the young woman has done with the family members of the victims.  It's been 10 years and she is interested in checking in on what she calls "the orphans of murder".  Dave agrees to talk with her and almost before they meet some very bizarre things start happening.

The Good Shepherd was never caught, even though the police and FBI have analyzed and theorized the case extensively.  Six people were murdered and then the killings stopped.  Endless files have been generated and for 10 years, nothing.  Dave Gurney digs into the case and starts wondering, what if the whole premise that the authorities worked on is flawed?  The killer sent a kind of manifesto to the police and so the guesses and theories have related back to that document.  But...what if?

Gurney is hard to know.  He seems emotionless and he kind of forgets that others exist when he is in the midst of his thought processes.  He seems to take his wife, Madeleine, for granted, but she keeps his physical world spinning and also provides a grounding factor when Dave goes off on his thought tangents.  In previous books, he has been estranged from his son, Kyle.  However, Kyle is brought into this book and we get to see them interact and indeed make significant progress in their relationship.

I like going through the process with Gurney.  I like his tortuous mind as he sifts through the clues and tries to imagine what and who and when and, especially, why.  Dave Gurney is a detective.  He is really, really good at being a detective.  He's not a people person and he manages to make a lot of law enforcement people upset with him, but his mission is clear.  Stop The Good Shepherd, because that individual has not gone away and they should have 'let the devil sleep'.

If you'd like to read the first book in the Dave Gurney series, it is Think of a Number.

Waiting on Wednesday - Night Night, Sleep Tight

This is a weekly event that highlights a book that we can't wait to be published.  It's hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I just love the cover on this book.  And the idea of old Hollywood glamour.  Hallie Ephron is part of a very famous family of writers, well known in Hollywood.  Her parents were screenwriters, whose credits include Carousel and Daddy Long Legs.  Her sisters, Nora, Amy, and Delia - yep, you know them as well.  Hallie has written several best selling books and I'm eagerly anticipating this one.  She is also part of the wonderful group of authors that blog at Jungle Red Writers.  Here's the book I'm waiting on:

Night Night, Sleep Tight

by Hallie Ephron

Publication Date - March 24th  

Los Angeles 1986: When Deirdre Unger arrived in Beverly Hills to help her bitter, disappointed father sell his dilapidated house, she discovers his lifeless body floating face down in the swimming pool. At first, Deirdre assumes her father’s death was a tragic accident. But the longer she stays in town, the more she suspects that it is merely the third act in a story that has long been in the making.

The sudden re-surfacing of Deirdre’s childhood best friend Joelen Nichol—daughter of the legendary star Elenor “Bunny” Nichol—seems like more than a coincidence. Back in 1958, Joelen confessed to killing her movie star mother’s boyfriend. Deirdre happened to be at the Nichols house the night of the murder—which was also the night she suffered a personal tragedy of her own. Could all of these events be connected?

Her search to find answers forces Deirdre to confront a truth she has long refused to believe: beneath the slick veneer of Beverly Hills lie secrets that someone will kill to keep buried.