LETHAL MEMOIRS

Author: Lori Derby Bingley ISBN: 1897261209 10/2007 SUSPENSE Publisher: CHAMPAGNE BOOKS

As senior editor of a major publishing house, April Matthews has often read books about murder and mayhem. However, when her brother is accused of murder, her mother goes missing, and an anonymous manuscript describes in detail an event she spent years trying to hide, she is stunned to realize that the man who killed her father is now after her and her family. Caleb McKinley is the arrogant and ambitious assistant DA, and is determined to prosecute April's brother for murder. When he finds the manuscript describing what happened all those years ago, he is forced to take matters into his own hands. Problem is, once April's in his arms, he finds it hard to believe she could be capable of anything but love. Could he be wrong?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I'll admit, LETHAL MEMOIRS surprised me a bit. I hadn't expected a suspense that literally kept me guessing not only who was the whodunit, but had a lot of twists and turns and a bit of a surprise ending. Mixed in with the mysterious clues contained in the manuscript sent in bits and pieces to the main character, April, LETHAL MEMOIRS turned out to be quite an enjoyable read.

The synopsis above pretty much summarizes the storyline. What it doesn't tell you is that there are a lot more characters in this story than just April and Caleb—many, many more. This is a very busy little book with a multitude of suspects and a lot of little subplots. While all end up converging to make sense in the end, you really have to stay on top of things if you want to keep pace with each character's part in what begins at the murder of April's father Alistair many years before. There's Abigail, April's mother, who's been estranged from her daughter for years and has secrets of her own to keep about that night so long ago. Abigail's friend Jack—could he have killed Alistair to make Abigail his own? What about April's brother, Aaron, who isn't exactly on the up-and-up and his friends, Bobby and Jason, who not only tie in to the current murder, but somehow link back to what happened on that long ago night. Characters come and go and are sometimes just briefly met, but all have just enough characterization to them that each will make you wonder... could this be the one?

There were a couple of issues that I did have a problem with, though, and I would be remiss without saying that in this review. The first is with April not confronting her mother about several of the things she reads about in the manuscript. Granted, they aren't exactly on the best of terms, but I know my own reaction would be to high tail it over for a confrontation and demand to know exactly what the writer meant in his ramblings, what things my mother knew that she never had told me. Second, things happened just too fast for me between Caleb and April. Their characters didn't seemed developed enough and there wasn't enough emotional connection between them before they hit the sheets.

Overall, for a well written, quick paced suspense that will keep you hopping and guessing, LETHAL MEMOIRS is well worth the read.

Nancy Davis