Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
ISBN: 9780778327189
Publisher: Mira Books (Harlequin)

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Author Hank Phillippi Ryan is an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston’s NBC affiliate. She has twenty-six Emmy’s and ten Edward R. Murrow Awards, along with dozens of other national and international journalism honors. Her work has resulted in new laws, homes removed from foreclosure, criminals sent to prison, and millions of dollars in restitution. Before her reporting career, she was a proofreader, a radio reporter, an Editorial Assistant at Rolling Stone, and a legislative aide in the US Senate. Other titles include: Prime Time and Air Time (coming September 2009.) She resides just outside of Boston, MA, with her husband.

Veteran TV reporter, Charlotte McNally, is fighting to get a woman wrongfully convicted of murder out of prison. The problem is, the woman the media refers to as “Deadly Dori” confessed to the crime three years ago and has no intention of recanting that. Her lawyer has found new evidence of her innocence, and Charlotte knows this is the story of a lifetime, so why won’t Dori do an interview and why on earth would she want to stay in prison for something she didn’t do? The deeper Charlotte digs into the case, the more people turn up dead, and Charlotte seems to be the next target.

The only complaint I have for the book, which I suppose isn’t really a complaint, is I missed the “Things they don’t teach you in J-school” commentary from the first book, which refers to sarcastic inner thoughts from Charlotte about the things they don’t learn in journalism school.

This is book two in the Charlotte McNally Mystery series, with Prime Time before it and Air Time after. These books are cozy mysteries with romantic elements. In book one, Charlotte meets Josh, a handsome college professor, and in this one, it follows their budding relationship and the trials Charlotte has with Josh’s eight-year-old daughter, Penny, as well as the investigation. I said it before in my earlier review for the first book, but the author has a dry, witty sense of humor that comes through splendidly in this series. Readers will find themselves not only intrigued by the investigation, rooting for Penny to give in and accept Charlotte, and the romance with Josh, but laughing hysterically in the process. I adore the secondary character, Franklin, who is Charlotte’s gay southern producer, and her mother’s constant pursuit of anti-aging. The dialog between them will have you rolling. Very well-paced, the plot flowed smoothly, without any dead spots. The setting, which is the Boston area, was laid out beautifully. Most of all, you won’t be disappointed by the “real killer.”  Recommended!

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