by Thomas Perry (2008)
When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn't the man she thought she married? Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own. It's none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he's been ordered to take out Kramer's widow, he figures there's a bigger secret at work--and maybe a bigger payoff. As they race to find the secret that Phil Kramer so masterfully hid, both Hobart and Emily must question where their true loyalties lie and how much they owe those who have been unfaithful to them.
Jack Fredrickson
"Sweetie Fairbairn, the doyenne of Chicago society, is known for big-hearted philanthropy and magnificent soirees in her penthouse high atop one of the city's premier boutique hotels. Dek Elstrom is hired by a mysterious man in a long limousine to investigate the death of a clown. Was it suicide--or murder? What is the connection between the dead clown and Sweetie?"--
Lisa Miscione
Fifteen and gorgeous, Tatiana Quinn disappears from her Miami bedroom sometime after midnight. Her backpack, $160 stashed in her jewelry box, and her favorite clothes are also missing. The police conclude she ran away. Her wealthy father quickly posts a million-dollar reward for her safe return. But the beautiful teen has not been found. Then Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime writer Lydia Strong gets an audio tape in the mail. Becoming a celebrity has made Lydia a magnet for requests from psychotics, prisoners, and the desperate families of murder victims. Cautiously she plays the tape and hears a girl calling herself Tatiana pleading for help. Now Lydia and her lover P.I. Jeffrey Mark, an ex-FBI agent, rush to Florida...and enter into a nightmare. Something seems fishy about the Quinn household. Something seems strange about the original investigation. And someone very powerful wants to kill the case. Simplest method? Make sure a nosy writer is good...and dead.
Ruth Birmingham
"Her personal life may be a mess. And no one said her family was sane. But as lead detective at Atlanta's Peachtree Investigations, hard-nosed, fast-talking PI Sunny Childs is always up for cracking the case. And now starring in her sixth mystery, Sunny is in thick. When her cousin Lee-Lee, a documentary filmmaker who's set to interview convicted murderer Dale Weedlow, invites Sunny along for the ride, Sunny knows her very prescence will probably convince her flighty cousin that the sicko's been framed. But sunny ends up going, and to her surprise, things are, indeed, not as they seem." -- Jacket.
M. C. Beaton
Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha is dreading the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Her best intentions to move on with her life are put on hold when James's young bride is shot to death just minutes before saying I do, and Agatha is named the prime suspect.