Bestselling author Nancy Pickard 'continues along with Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton - to deliver the best' (Houston Chronicle) with a chilling new mystery featuring the intrepid Marie Lightfoot. With the bestseller THE WHOLE TRUTH, Nancy Pickard introduced gutsy, charismatic Marie Lightfoot and kicked off a thrilling new series with 'an intriguing story, faxcinatingly told' (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Now, Pickard once again 'pushes the presumed limits of crime fiction' (Los Angeles Times) as she sends her emotionally complex heroine into the darkest realm of human nature. Sex, violence, evil and betrayal: the shocking murder case splashed across the Florida headlines has it all, making it the perfect candidate for true-crime writer Marie Lightfoot's next bestseller. But beyond the lurid tale of a love affair gone fatally wrong, there are disturbing twists that leave Marie sensing in her gut that something doesn't jibe. Twist number one: the killer is a man of the cloth who murders his wife in collusion with his lover. Twist number two: the minister is convicted though his lover walks free. But it is the final blow that truly gives Marie pause: for the first time in her illustrious career, she fails to win the killer's confidence during a jailhouse interview. When a dark revelation emerges, Marie is forced to confront her own shortcomings as she learns a bone-chilling lesson: to err is human, but to underestimate the criminal mind could be deadly.

Author Biography

Nancy Pickard, creator of the acclaimed Jenny Cain mystery series, won the Anthony Award for SAY NO TO MURDER, a Macavity Award for MARRIAGE IS MURDER, and two Agatha Awards for Best Novel, for BUM STEER (1990) and I.O.U (1991). Her next novel featuring Marie Lightfoot is forthcoming in hardcover from Pocket Books. A former reporter and editor, she is a past president of Sisters in Crime. She splits her time between Kansas and Florida.