J. A. Jance, Web of Evil

Web of Evil

J. A. Jance

Touchstone, Jan 2007, $25.95

ISBN: 1416537074

Ali Reynolds provides emotional support to her cyber buddies with her web site Cutlooseblog.com though she has never met her electronic pals. However, now she needs the crutch of them as she must deal with divorcing her cheating spouse Paul. Her friends are all there for her as she leaves her new home in Sedona, Arizona, to return to Los Angeles so her odious husband can marry his eight-months-pregnant girlfriend April Gaddis before she gives birth.

Once she is back in Southern California her life takes a nasty spin when someone murders Paul. The police suspect she killed her husband in a crime of passion. Soon after his homicide April's mother dies, with the cops looking at Ali again in spite of her solid alibi. Realizing she cannot trust LAPD to do a thorough job beyond railroading her, Ali,with the support of her Cutlooseblog.com crowd investigates.

This is a fun, amateur sleuth thriller that uses the modern version of pen pals and the blog to anchor the sense of time. The storyline is fast-paced but requires a leap of faith wider than Evel Knievel's failed leap across the Snake River; that is LAPD narrowly looks at the heroine as the only person of interest even after the second murder. Still, J.A. Jance provides the audience with a likable heroine (she even befriends the girlfriend) whose blog and stumbling sleuthing are fun to follow.

Harriet Klausner