Lauren Laurano Mysteries
2 total works
Lauren can never seem to leave her work behind. She and her lover, Kip, are taking time off to help friends renovate their new house in a sleepy Long Island resort town. It's supposed to be a vacation - they are still recovering from that day when Kip walked in on Lauren and another woman, and this trip is intended to help patch things up. But private life gets pushed to the back burner when Lauren hears of a local "suicide" that her detective instincts tell her is more likely a murder.
Despite Kip's requests that she leave the case alone and focus on their relationship, Lauren can't say no when the victim's cousin asks her to find out the truth. Small towns always have their secrets, but this case is downright bizarre. Every directions she turns, Lauren finds something suspicious: cops who don't see the most obvious criminal patterns, local politicians with secret agendas, public battles that barely mask long-standing personal vendettas. Soon Lauren finds herself in the middle of local battle between blue-blood homeowners an developers eager to spoil their pristine community with fast-food chains. Could the victim have paid for his anti-development activism with his life? Or is that simply what the killer wants people to think? The more Lauren learns about the apparently sleepy town, the more puzzling the case becomes.
With her relationship stretched to the breaking point, a new partnership just beginning (professional, of course), and a case that just won't come together, Lauren is feeling off-kilter and offher turf. When the killer strikes again, she is forced to throw out the rule book and navigate by instinct, hoping she won't end up in the murderer's sights herself.
Full of twists, powerful emotion, and the inherent humor of New Yorkers outside their familiar territory, this is Sandra Scoppettone at her very best.
