Review of "Never Tell: A Detective D.D. Warren Mystery" by Lisa Gardner

In this 10th book in the 'Detective D.D. Warren' series, the investigator looks into the death of a traveling salesman. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****



In this mystery, Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren of the Boston Police Department has two deaths on her mind, both linked to the same woman. A 32-year-old pregnant high school teacher named Evie Carter has been arrested for killing her husband Conrad Carter, who was shot three times. Evie claims she came home and found Conrad dead, then picked up the pistol and shot up his computer.



D.D.'s suspicions of the woman are heightened by the fact that Evie was involved in another death at the age of 16, when her father, Professor Earl Hopkins, was killed with a shotgun. At the time Evie said she had discharged the weapon accidently, and since her mother concurred, Evie wasn't charged with a crime. Still, Evie being in the vicinity of two homicides gets D.D.'s antennae quivering.

Things get even more complicated when D.D.'s confidential informant, Flora Dane, recognizes Conrad Carter from his photo on television.



Flora says she'd seen Conrad in a Florida bar about seven years ago, when she was the prisoner of long-haul trucker Jacob Ness. Ness had kidnapped Flora when she was a college student on spring break, and held her for 472 days - until she was rescued by the FBI six years ago.

Ness occasionally took captive Flora out to a bar, and on one such occasion they met up with Conrad Carter. Flora - who's now an activist and victim's advocate - believes Carter was a predator like Ness, and she now makes it her mission to find the connection between the two men.

The story is told from the rotating perspectives of D.D., Evie, and Flora, so we get a 360° view of what's going on.

- D.D. is somewhat puzzled by the Carter homicide, because there was an eight-minute gap between the shots that killed the man and the shots that killed the computer. D.D. would love to know what was on that machine, but the information is unrecoverable.

- Evie clams up about her husband and hires high-powered defense attorney Mr. Delaney, who's an old friend of her family. Evie does, however, renege on the story about her father. She now says that her dad - a highly-regarded math genius - committed suicide, and her mother cooked up the 'accident' tale to protect his reputation.

- Flora tries to launch her own investigation into Carter and Ness, her aim being to find out whether they were part of the same predator network. She also hopes to identify Ness's (presumed) previous victims. To accomplish this, Flora partners up with a true crime aficionado/computer expert named Keith. She also hounds the FBI for their files on Jacob Ness, but the fibbies don't just pass out files willy nilly.



We learn that dead Conrad Carter, a window salesman, traveled frequently for work and had a lot of secrets. He also probably communicated with Jacob Ness.....perhaps on the dark web.



To investigate this, the authorities take another look at Ness's old computer, which had been wiped clean when they confiscated it six years ago. However, computer whizzes can sometimes work miracles....

As the story unfolds we find out a lot about Evie and Flora's past traumas: Flora because of the kidnapping and Evie because of her seriously neurotic mother, who'd do anything to present a picture of perfection to the world. Some of these scenes, especially those about Flora's captivity, are disturbing.

There's a lot of speculation among the authorities - and some additional felonies - before the truth about everything comes to light.

I like the book but some of the plot points strain credulity to the breaking point. I find it hard to believe that Evie who has above average smarts AND a tendency to snoop, knows so little about her husband of ten years. Moreover, Evie seems totally blasé about her husband's death, though she says she loved him. In fact, Evie doesn't spend one second mourning Conrad's loss. Is this realistic?

On the positive side, it's fun to get a peek at D.D.'s home life - with her husband, little boy, and adorable mischievous dog.



I'd recommend the novel to readers who enjoy mysteries, especially fans of D.D. Warren.

Rating: 3 stars