Tami Hoag, The Alibi Man

The Alibi Man

Tami Hoag

Bantam, April 2007, $26.00, 368 pp.

ISBN 0553802011

One day while riding a horse near the canal in Wellington in south Florida, former undercover cop Elena Estes, now a horse groomer, sees the parts of a body in a nearby canal. She calls Detective Landry, the man she just broke up with, to take care of the body. When they fish her out of the water, Elena is shocked to know the murdered victim is Irina, one of the women who works will the horses in the same stable as Elena. Once a cop always a cop as Elena's instincts are to find out who killed Irina.

At first, she starts out to find out who Irina hung around with, encouraged by the victim's lover, Russian Mafioso Mr. Kulack, who wants Elena to find out who killed the love of his life. She learns the shallow, beautiful woman's only ambition was to have a sugar daddy marry her. When Irina's friend Lisbeth is beaten up badly, Elena realizes the murder and the assault are connected to the Alibi Club whose corrupt members are powerful men who provide alibis for each other when the situation warrants. To make matters worse, Elena's father, who she hasn't talked to in two decades, is the club's lawyer. One of the men in the club is Bennett Walker. He was the man who wanted her to provide an alibi for him when they were engaged so he wouldn't be prosecuted for the rape of a woman. Only time will tell if Elena's suspicious about him are correct.

Tami Hoag has written another exciting suspense thriller that is heading for the New York Times bestseller list. Her protagonist is a vulnerable woman who has no ideals left about the justice system especially when the rich easily manipulate it, yet she is strong enough to walk away from a life of privilege and take a job that her old crowd believes is socially beneath her. She believes in justice and serves as a strong role model because she thinks with her head and feels with her heart.

Harriet Klausner