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Rae Sullivan is certain she knows who killed her business partner, Thalia, in a San Francisco park. The police are handling the investigation all wrong, even suspecting her, and there is no one else driven to bring the real suspect to justice. While gathering clues with the son of Thalia’s Paris lover and the help of Thalia’s older, attractive brother, Luc, Rae learns that Thalia was also pregnant, and it wasn’t Thalia’s husband Garret’s child. This new information throws suspicion on even more suspects, and Rae is entangled in a dangerous game. Chasing her suspect to Paris, Rae feels her attraction towards Luc growing stronger and begins questioning her own bonds of fidelity. Can Rae track down the evidence to place guilt on the real murderer, or will her snooping cost Rae her life?
Monte’s debut novel has all the trappings of a seasoned writer. The sentences are clear and concise, and the dialogue is fluid and conversational. This isn’t a thriller type of whodunit. Rather, it is a more genteel mystery. One might even call it a cozy. Monte is clearly knowledgeable in the genre and skillful in moving suspicion between multiple characters. The actions of the main character nearing the conclusion manage to take suspicions off most characters and lead the reader a little too easily to the proper suspect. However, the book’s pace is well-plotted, and Rae is a likable heroine whose persistence has the reader always in her corner. Traveling from San Francisco to Paris, Monte writes about locations with just the right bit of description to transport the reader to charming settings enjoyable to visit. Fans of the genre will surely be on the waiting list for Monte’s next book.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review