Christiane Heggan, Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies

Christiane Heggan

Mira, Sep 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0778323374

In Boston, Grace McKenzie museum art curator looks forward to seeing her dad in Napa Valley. Her vacation begins the minute she leaves the workplace but before she can go, she is stunned to see the last person she would expect to visit her. The mighty bastion of Philadelphia high society Sarah Hatfield, mother of Steven, the man she was to marry a decade ago, informs her that her son was murdered. Her former fianc stuns her further from the grave when he leaves his Hatfield Gallery in New Hope, Pennsylvania to Grace; though he knew she would refuse ownership, his bequest asks her to stay in the town for one week before rejecting her inheritance.

Wanting to honor Steven's last wish, Grace agrees. However, Grace learns that the police arrested one of their own Chief Fred Baxter, as the killer. He had motive as he learned that the victim was having an affair with his wife Denise. After running off an intruder from the galley, Grace begins to find evidence that her ex-fianc was trafficking in contraband and fakes. Meanwhile Fred's son FBI agent Matt takes a leave of absence after completing an assignment in Austria in order to prove his father's innocence. When Matt and Grace meet, they are attracted to one another as they work together to solve a homicide, questionable art dealings, and a two decade old disappearance.

Where The Truth Lies is a fabulous romantic suspense starring two wonderful lead characters with a mutual interest in solving the homicide that initially looks like an obvious crime of passion, but soon turns into much more. The subplots involving the townsfolk, contraband, and the Baxters augment the prime storyline of Matt and Grace teaming up with love in an investigation that is filled with red herrings and fabulous twists and turns. Christiane Heggan is at her best with this winner.

Harriet Klausner