From the award-winning author of the Brigid Quinn thrillers, which have been translated into 20 languages, comes this gripping series spin-off and upmarket domestic suspense novel.

Alice Einstein--known as "Malice" to her former schoolfriends--likes to tell herself stories. There's a good one she's workshopping about how, despite once being a critically acclaimed literary novelist, she's ended up blocked and uninspired, living in her timid, conflict-averse sister Liesl's spare room.

But then Liesl sends her an SOS worthy of a thriller novel. The horror! The horror! Sam is back.

Sam, Liesl's wealthy ex-husband, vanished ten years ago, leaving her a chunk of money but no explanation. Sam is handsome, charming, manipulative . . . and now he claims he's sick. But Alice, with her experience of spinning tales, knows a liar when she sees one.

Haunted by a childhood tragedy that gave birth to the cruel nickname "Lethal", Liesl now specializes in saving things: dogs, children, sisters. Telling herself it's time she returned the favor, Alice engages the services of Brigid Quinn, a hardboiled local private investigator with a shady past, to help her get rid of Sam for good.

But as the plot thickens, Alice begins to wonder if she knows anyone involved--most of all herself--quite as well as she thinks . . .

Portrait

Becky Masterman has worked as an actor, playwright, and an editor for a forensic science and law enforcement press. Her debut thriller was a finalist for the Edgar and the Anthony Awards for Best First Novel and for the CWA Gold Dagger, and her books have been translated into twenty languages. As well as a series of novels featuring retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn, including spin-off Her Prodigal Husband, she is the author of standalone thriller Maternal Instinct. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband.