Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Revenge of Innocents

Revenge of Innocents

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Kensington, May 2007, $24.00

ISBN 0758213034

Ventura County, California, Probation Department Investigative Unit division manager Carolyn Sullivan should be euphoric as she gets married in two weeks and her two kids support the upcoming nuptials. Instead she is depressed as the ugly cases keep on coming. Now her best friend Veronica Campbell rips her skin for recommending a jail sentence for Brent Dover for sodomizing and beating up Patricia Baxter, who actually is Patrick Baxter. Veronica makes a strong counter argument, but the brain damage suffered from the battering makes a stronger case.

Not long after they agree to disagree, Ventura Police Lieutenant Hank Sawyer informs Carolyn that a maid at the East Thompson Motor Inn found the murdered body of Veronica; she was shot in the head. Ready to put her wedding on hold, Carolyn wants the culprit caught, tried, and executed even as the cops believe a suicide occurred. However, she soon finds her pal since grade school fronted a dysfunctional family with darks secrets that tear further at Carolyn's soul as she wonders how she failed to see the now obvious signs of a troubled person who probably killed herself.

The fourth Sullivan legal thriller (and first without the heroine's name in the title) is a terrific tale. The prime case is personalized further by Carolyn as she wants more than just justice. However, as the truth about Veronica and her family surfaces, Carolyn tears into herself wondering how she, an investigator, failed her friend so badly by missing what now seems so obvious. Readers will devour this excellent one sitting entry as Carolyn begins to believe her friend may have committed suicide.

Harriet Klausner