Deceit : A Novel

From Publishers Weekly Fans of Collins and her trademarked "Seatbelt Suspense" will find her usual blend of good storytelling and notable mystery in this standalone tale of murder and suspicion wrapped in a cloak of deceit. Joanne Weeks is a skip tracer-someone who looks for deadbeats, a profession worth reading the book to learn more about-and knows that Baxter Jackson killed his wife, who was Joanne's best friend. The investigation stalls until Jackson's second wife turns up dead and frightening events begin to unfold in Joanne's life. Who is the man who jumps in front of her car on a rainy night? Why is he urging her to find Melissa Harkoff, a foster child long gone from the scene? Did someone break into Joanne's home? What does the Jacksons' foster daughter know about Linda Jackson's murder? Collins provides an enticing read while posing tough questions about truth and lies, power and control, faith and forgiveness. This will cause readers to look for the deceit in their own lives, and give them a fine summer read. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Six years ago Joanne Weeks’ best friend mysteriously disappeared, later to be declared dead. Her husband, a bigwig in the California town of Vonita, remarried, and now his second wife has died in an unlikely accident. Joanne, a skip tracer by trade, is convinced that Baxter Jackson murdered both his wives, maybe to collect on the insurance, maybe for other reasons. One thing she’s sure of: if she intends to prove the man is a murderer, she’ll need to find someone who saw something important, six years ago. The author is known for fiction that blends mystery with Christian themes (and for not hitting the reader over the head with the latter: it’s there, but it’s subtle). Here her primary focus is the mystery, and its solidly constructed. Joanne is a strong and immediately likable protagonist, and the book’s ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel, which wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. --David Pitt Sometimes the truth hides where no one expects to find it. Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed Linda--his second wife and Joanne's best friend---six years ago. But Baxter, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man. The police tell Joanne to leave well enough alone, but she is determined to bring him down. Using her skills as a professional skip tracer, she sets out to locate the only person who may be able to put Baxter behind bars. Melissa Harkoff was a traumatized sixteen-year-old foster child in the Jackson household when Linda disappeared. At the time Melissa claimed to know nothing of Linda's whereabouts--but was she lying? In relentless style, Deceit careens between Joanne's pursuit of the truth-- which puts her own life in danger--and the events of six years' past, when Melissa came to live with the Jacksons. What really happened in that household? Beneath the veneer of perfection lies a story of shakeable faith, choices, and the lure of deceit. Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed Linda--his second wife and Joanne's best friend--six years ago. But Jackson, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man. -- p. [4] of cover