Book description
In this fourth title in the Ellie Foreman mystery series, the Chicago
documentary filmmaker finds herself in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Returning
from a video shoot at the Lodge, a newly renovated, upscale resort,
Ellie befriends a woman who claims her ride abandoned her at a highway
rest stop. But Ellie's kindness is brutally cut short when a pickup
truck pulls up, the rear window opens, and the woman is shot dead. Even
with her history of sleuthing, Ellie is not eager to get involved. Then
the victims's family arrives and begs for information. When the second
shooting occurs, Ellie decides to poke around on her own. She is soon
drawn into the history of a wealthy and prominent family, deeply rooted
in a magnificent mansion on the shores of the lake, and surrounded by an
elaborate web of lies, murder, and family secrets that have plagued both
them and the town for years-secrets that now place Ellie in the
crosshairs of a killer. Incest and murder, plus the power and
attraction of wealth, provide the menacing and murky background for
Hellmann's less than compelling fourth novel to feature Ellie Foreman
(after 2004's An Image of Death). The Chicago documentary filmmaker has
a way of stumbling into murder and romance, and then coping with their
competing demands in entertaining and effective fashion. Ellie's at a
rest stop near Lake Geneva, Wis., when an apparently random shooting
snuffs out the life of Daria Flynn, a young woman with whom she'd just
been talking. But the shooting turns out to have deep roots that lead
back to Lake Geneva and the resort where Ellie had been filming. When
Daria's family approaches Ellie to learn about her last moments, Ellie
is drawn into the resort's dark history. She also meets handsome, rich,
arrogant Luke Sutton, scion of the influential Sutton family and,
because of a rumored link to Daria, a possible suspect. As usual,
Hellmann creates a vivid setting, but Ellie's dithering over one fading
relationship-and a bad case of raging hormones more appropriate for her
16-year-old daughter than for her-reduce her appeal. Libby writes the
award-winning suspense series featuring video producer and single mother
Ellie Foreman, who gets by with a wry sense of humor, a circle of good
friends, and an occasional bottle of wine. Libby describes her four
novels as a cross between “Desperate Housewives” and “24.” Libby also
edited the acclaimed anthology Chicago Blues. Originally from
Washington, DC, she has lived in Chicago for 30 years and finds the
contrast between the beautiful and the profane in that city a crime
writer's paradise. Her fifth novel, Easy Innocence, is a spin-off from
the Ellie Foreman series. She can be found at www. hellmann. com. She
also blogs with The Outfit, at www. theoutfitcollective. com
