Michele Martinez, Cover-up

Cover-up

Michele Martinez

Morrow, Mar 2007, $23.95

ISBN 006089900X

New York City-based TV reporter Suzanne Shepard has made enemies with the people she covers as she seeks only scandals amongst the rich and famous. She exposes celebrities to ridicule. So when she is found raped and murdered in Central Park no one is shocked nor is anyone shedding tears.

Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas and her boyfriend, FBI agent Dan O'Reilly arrive at the Central park crime scene to witness a horrific sight. Someone using a hunting knife carved "bitch" into Suzanne's stomach apparently while she was alive and felt each etch made by the sharp weapon. Whereas the media nickname the culprit the "Central Park Butcher," a joint police investigation consisting of Dan, Melanie and NYPD Homicide Detective Julian Hay begins only to find a myriad of people with motives even sharper than the murder weapon as suspects run the gamut from stalkers including one observing Melanie to celebrities to everyday service people to friends and lovers with each possible person even aficionados sharing in common a keen loathing of Suzanne.

This is a great police procedural as the potential motive leads to a sizable part of Manhattan wanting the insidious intrusive reporter dead as Suzanne had no morals or concern over collateral damage when it came to obtaining a story. Melanie is terrific as the prime star though she is ably supported by her lover and Julian. The investigation ad its related suspense make for a razor-sharp thriller, but it is characters, especially Melanie and Suzanne, who turn Michele Martinez's third Vargas tale (see THE FINISHING SCHOOL and MOST WANTED) into a great read.

Harriet Klausner