Life Without Parole
-
-
3.3 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $6.99
-
- $6.99
Publisher Description
Fans of J.A. Jance and Lisa Gardner will love this exploration of the little-known job of death investigator in small-town Missouri where Angela Richman finds herself investigating the lives and secrets of the one percenters in Chouteau Forest.
Chouteau Forest’s wealthy are being targeted by the Ghost Burglars, who’ve carried out twelve burglaries over two weeks. So far, there’s been no bloodshed . . . until Tom Lockridge is brutally slain inside his marble mansion during the latest raid.
Angela Richman, death investigator for Chouteau County, is called to assess the scene and the body by Detective Jace Budewitz. As they investigate, Jace becomes obsessed with proving the Ghost Burglars weren’t involved in the murder.
Can the burglars be ruled out so easily? Is there more to Cynthia Lockridge, Tom’s wife, seeking solace in the arms of the ambitious local lawyer Wesley Desloge? What about Tom’s long-suffering daughter, or his loose-lipped housekeeper or office manager? Everyone is keeping secrets, but whose erupted into violence that fateful night?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Death investigator Angela Richman has her hands full in Agatha finalist Viets's solid sixth mystery set in Chouteau County, "a pocket of white privilege some thirty miles west of St. Louis" (after Death Grip). First up is Chouteau Forest businessman Tom Lockridge, who was shot dead in his bedroom. Everyone believes the infamous Ghost Burglars, who have been terrorizing the Forest's elite, are responsible. Yet valuables were left behind, and Tom was killed while sound asleep. Both Angela and Det. Jace Budewitz are suspicious of the dead man's much younger widow, Cynthia, who was spending money faster than Tom could make it and rumored to be sleeping with their lawyer. After another death ties into the Ghost Burglars and the Lockridge investigation, Jace is under pressure to solve the case quickly or else. Angela, as usual, is keen to help, but is distracted by other death investigations as well as her steamy romance with a cop. Colorful characters match the crafty plot twists. Viets consistently entertains.
