Donna Anders, Death Waits For You

Death Waits For You

Donna Anders

Pocket, November 2006, $7.99, 376 pp

ISBN 1416514864

Savannah Blum left Kansas City to move into her grandmother's apartment in Jersey City so she will be closer to the New York publishing industry. She wants to write a book; to do that full time she needs to have a job that will allow her the time to get her book finished. Her grandmother, who believes in her, introduces her to the wealthy Hawthorne family who lived the American dream, going from rags to riches when they immigrated to America.

They are willing to pay her thirty thousand dollars to write their history. She will have access to all the documents they have, and she will be able to interview the entire family. They are an eccentric lot, with one person being a recluse, one a religious fanatic who doesn't want to have anything to do with her, a so-called psychic who tells her she is in danger, and a sexy host who makes her forget about her boyfriend Tom. Someone fears she is getting too close to a family secret, and they try to scare her off by stalking her and wearing a black cape, sending threatening letters and making malicious phone calls. A series of women are being tortured, mutilated and killed in the same manner as the slayings that occurred in 1979, with a Hawthorne victim being the last person the perpetrator killed. Now many believe he is back, and his target is Savannah who is getting too close to uncovering a dark truth.

Anyone who loves fantastic psychological suspense in the vein of Joy Fielding, Mary Higgins Clarke and P.J. Tracy will thoroughly enjoy DEATH WAITS FOR YOU. Even the most brilliant amateur sleuth won't know who the killer is, or how the latest series of homicides relate to the ones over three decades ago. Donna Anders is one author who deserves an award nomination, and should be on all the best seller lists.