Bellamy Lyston Price's sister Susan was murdered at their father's company picnic in Austin, Texas 18 years ago.
A teenage boy, Allan Strickland, was convicted of the murder.
However Bellamy is still haunted by unanswered questions and writes a novel to expunge the incident from her mind.
When the best-selling book is revealed to be based on a true story many people with something to hide - including police, the prosecutor, relatives, witnesses, etc. - get antsy about the renewed publicity and Bellamy experiences frightening threats and break-ins.
Meanwhile Bellamy hires Dent Carter to fly her family to Houston for her father's medical treatment. It happens that Dent was Susan's boyfriend at the time of the murder and was fingered by Susan's parents as a prime suspect, which he still resents.
However, Bellamy and Dent eventually form an uneasy alliance to look into Susan's murder and discover that witnesses lied, the police and prosecutor wanted to convict someone at any cost, Ray Strickland (Allan's brother) is bent on revenge, and Susan wasn't the innocent her parents portrayed.
Of course Bellamy and Dent have a strong attraction for each other, which he pursues and she resists. Sandra Brown does a skillful job developing the characters and revealing clues to the murder. For me the obligatory romance in the story was an unnecessary distraction but I enjoyed the book and recommend it to mystery lovers.
Rating: 3 stars
I can't remember if I read this one yet but will have to check. Nice review Barb.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla. :)
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