Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Police Detective “Harri” Foster is working the dark streets of Chicago, still trying to prove that her late partner, Glynnis Thompson, did not die by suicide as everyone believes.  When Glynnis’ husband comes to Harri with a photo purporting to show his late wife accepting a payoff from an unknown man, Harri becomes more convinced than ever that Glynnis’ death was in fact murder.  She’s continuing to try to prove it despite the efforts of the Chicago Police Department, which would like the whole embarrassing incident swept under the rug.

Now there’s a new murder that must take priority for the detective.  Brice Collier, the only son and heir to the Collier fortune, is found outside Hardwicke House, the Gilded Age mansion on the Belverton College campus where he and a number of his college friends live. 

Several of the buildings on the campus bear the family name–the Collier School of Science and Technology, the Collier Library, and the Collier Business School.  Thus there’s immediately a great deal of pressure from Brice’s father Sebastian, the Chicago Police Department, and the media to solve this case ASAP.

When Harri and the other police officers arrive at the scene of Brice’s death, they see the young man’s body lying in a field of snow and ice.  It’s February and the temperature is below freezing, but Brice is shirtless, showing a tattoo on his upper right arm of a mythical creature holding a double-edged axe.  The corpse reeks of alcohol and vomit.  Could he have staggered out of Hartwicke House on his own, too drunk to know what he was doing?  Or was he taken to the field and left there to die?

Brice is found by two women who were at the party at the House.  Shelby Ritter makes the call to 911, and her friend Hailie Kenton is with her.  Both are students at Belverton and say they knew Brice slightly and thus had invitations to the party, but they say they left before it was over.

Before she begins questioning them, Harri suggests going inside the House, where it will be warmer and more comfortable than sitting in the police car answering questions.  The girls refuse, and the detective wonders why.  And why were they out walking the snow-covered field before six in the morning in the freezing cold weather?  Their stories don’t make sense, but Harri lets them go home with a warning that she may need to speak to them again.

To make matters even more tense, Harri is getting anonymous phone calls.  The caller says he was wronged and that Harri has a “debt to pay.”  She tells him she doesn’t understand what he’s talking about, and she doesn’t, but he continues talking.  “It’s about you.  You’re the get.  Where the road ends.”

Tracy Clark takes the reader on a thrilling ride with a believable plot and wonderfully drawn characters.  Harri Foster is a dedicated police officer, always willing to go the extra mile to solve a case, but she has a number of demons that she lives with every day.  Ms. Clark has written another outstanding novel in this series.

You can read more about the author at this website.