The town of Aylesford in New York State's Hudson Valley is an affluent community where families know one another and have the occasional neighborhood party.
It was at the last communal barbecue, about a year ago, that new arrival Amanda Pierce - a gorgeous young brunette with long tan legs - caught everyone's eye.
"All the husbands had watched her, practically drooling, stumbling over one another to hand her things" while the wives looked on trying not to appear annoyed.
Now Amanda's handsome husband Richard Pierce has reported her missing. Amanda was supposed to have gone on a girls' weekend with her friend Caroline, but she never returned. And a call to Caroline revealed that no trip was planned.
The police don't concern themselves too much at first, thinking Amanda probably ran off with another man. Then Amanda's car is found sunk in a nearby lake, with her bludgeoned body in the trunk, and the murder investigation begins.
An early order of business is a search of the Pierce house, where the police find several sets of fingerprints. Most of these belong to family members and neighbors, but one set of prints can't be identified.
These prints belong to sixteen-year-old Raleigh Sharpe, a local teen who breaks into neighbors' houses 'for fun.' Raleigh is honing his skills as a hacker, and likes to sneak into people's homes and snoop through their computers. Raleigh never breaks items or steals anything, so his shenanigans go unnoticed by the victims.
Raleigh's exploits accidently become known to his shocked parents, who ground him after he promises not to do it again (ha ha ha).
Still, Raleigh's mother Olivia feels awful about her son's transgressions, and - without telling Raleigh or her husband Paul - Olivia writes anonymous apology letters. She slips these missives under the doors of the two houses Raleigh admits to entering (though there were many more). One house is the residence of a widow named Carmine Torres and the other is the home of Amanda's husband Richard.
As the story unfolds, the above occurrences have escalating repercussions.
Olivia and Paul Sharpe take their son to a criminal lawyer, who advises them to DO NOTHING. The attorney points out that, if Raleigh's actions come to light he could be charged with breaking and entering, which is a serious crime.
Olivia is worried about having written the anonymous letters, but she doesn't fess up. The letters - and Raleigh's crimes - prey on Olivia's mind, however, and she confides in her best friend Glenda. Glenda has problems also, since her teenage son drinks. The women share many cups of coffee and glasses of wine as they commiserate with one another.
Olivia and Glenda soon have more to talk about as the police investigation into Amanda's death reveals suspicious behavior all over Aylesford…..as well as many cases of marital infidelity.
Everyone who knew Amanda is interviewed, and the cops suspect one person after another of being her killer.
Olivia's anonymous letters also spawn consequences. Carmine Torres is very disturbed by learning she had a break-in, and shows the letter to everyone in the neighborhood as she tries to discover who violated her privacy.
And Richard Pierce worries about what the intruder might have seen in his house....like the burner phone he hid.
The book has a claustrophobic feel since Aylesford is small and there are a limited number of people who might be the murderer. Thus the armchair detective has a pretty good chance of closing in on 'who done it.'
In addition, many of the characters are two-dimensional, defined by characteristics like sleeping with Amanda; seeing Amanda at work; spotting Amanda with a man; having an affair with Amanda's husband; and so on.
The most well-rounded characters are the Sharpes, and I empathized with Olivia and Paul, who wanted to protect their son in a chaotic situation. As for Raleigh, I hoped he'd learn his lesson about invading people's privacy. 😒
All in all this is an entertaining mystery, fun for an afternoon's reading.
Rating: 3 stars
Thanks for the honest review Barb. I downloaded the audiobook from the library for this one and hope to read it in the next week or so. I do like to experience a story, not be told what is going on, so I shall see.
ReplyDeleteSo many people behaving badly in this book Carla. 😏💐🍁
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