Evan Marshall (1) (1956–)

Jane Stuart is a literary agent who's just getting her life back to normal after finding a dead body. She's planning her son's tenth birthday party at a friend's inn, and all seems to be going well. The day of the party she hears a scream while the kids are on a scavenger hunt, and runs to find her son -- and the body of a dead woman hanging from a tree. When it's determined that this is a homicide, Detective Stanley Greenberg is brought in to investigate. But there's no clue as to whom the woman is, nor how she got there. Jane's friend Louise thinks she saw her walking into the woods, But Louise has bigger problems of her own -- and Jane wants to help her.

Then Jane's assistant Daniel tells her he's going to marry his fiancée Laura, and he drops a bombshell on Jane about his past that has her stunned. But more than this, an editor friend named Holly tells Jane that she's giving her a new client -- hot new star Goddess, who wants to write a book. Jane accepts, but discovers that Goddess doesn't exactly live up to her name. When there's another death soon after, Jane wants to know what's going on. She also begins to wonder if the two might be connected. But how?

It's when she starts thinking about things she knows, and some things that are practically dropped into her lap, she comes to a devastating conclusion about the killer. Unfortunately, it may be too late for Jane, unless she can save herself somehow...

This is the second book in the series and I must say that I quite enjoyed it as much as the first. Mr. Marshall is indeed a talented writer, and keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering where the story is going to go next.

Jane, finding herself lonely and missing her late husband, tries to pull herself into her work, but things keep getting in the way. 'Things' being dead bodies. Unfortunately, she's once again involved in murder, and it escalates when something occurs to put her on her guard. I shall not say more about that, not wanting to ruin the book for others who have not read it.

If you have not, I recommend that you do. It is full of twists and unexpected happenings, and there is a subplot that is interesting, to say the least; and watching Jane put everything together is worth reading the book alone. Ah, it is these twists that one has to watch for; they are the gist and meat of the book, and looking for them has you come to the same conclusion as Jane, although not so soon as to think you have got it all.

In the end, when we discover the murderer, one never knows what goes on in the mind of a sociopath; nor what one will strive for at any cost. I look forward to the next in this series. Highly recommended.… (meer)

Jane Stuart is a struggling literary agent -- ever since her husband Kenneth died, most of his clients have gone elsewhere. Still, it's what she knows, and she has a nine-year-old son to support. With the help of her assistant Daniel Willoughby, she plans to keep her agency running. She also has a nanny for her son Nick, but when she receives a call from his school that Marlene hasn't picked him up, she's at first angry.

When she gets Nick and goes home, she finds that all Marlene's belongings are gone. Now she wants to know why Marlene just left without notice, and calls Ivy, Marlene's mother. The two of them have no idea where she went, and Jane feels it's her duty to locate the young woman. But it isn't going to be easy, since Marlene is nineteen and a legal adult, and no one is giving her definite answers.

Still, Jane keeps on digging, and what she finds greatly disturbs her. Was Marlene ever what she claimed to be? And how far does Jane have to go to find out what happened to her?...

This is an older book, and the first in the series. I believe I read this years ago, but sometimes it's nice to go back to the past and give these books a second go-round. This time I am glad that I did. The book was written well, and even though I thought that Jane had gone above and beyond looking for Marlene and answers, I understand that she has an innate curiosity about her and wanted to know the truth.

I did feel that Ivy blaming Jane for her daughter's disappearance was over the top. Ivy should have kept track of her own child and not expected Jane to be a babysitter. After all, wasn't that what Jane hired Marlene for? You'd think a nanny would be responsible, but oh, well.

I didn't care for some of the secondary characters, not even Laura, whom I felt should have allowed Daniel to find his own path and be supportive of his choices; I didn't care for Roger (who would?); but I did sort of like Detective Greenberg, and of course Jane, Nick, and Florence. These are characters I won't mind revisiting in future books.

When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it is more complicated than anyone could have imagined, and well worth waiting for. It comes together nicely in a believable package, and leaves us wanting to read the next in the series. Recommended.… (meer)