"The Wrong Girl"

?The Wrong Girl" by Hank Phillippi Ryan is the first book I've read by this author and the second one in her Newspaper Reporter Jane Ryland and Detective Jack Brogan series.  It mentions incidents from the first novel in the series and I liked this one so well that I'm already looking for that one!

Ryan is the investigative reporter for Boston's NBC affiliate as well an author.  She's won 28 Emmys and 10 Edward R. Murrow awards for her journalism.  Four of her mystery novels are best sellers and she's won 2 Agatha Awards as well as the Anthony and Macavity for her mystery novels.  You can visit her on the web at www.HankPhillippiRyan.com for more info.

Three deaths happen in fairly quick succession in Boston and appear to be unrelated.  The first two are declared murder by the new hotshot medical examiner and the third is suspicious but most likely not homicide.  Detective Jack Brogan and his partner are called to the scene of the first murder where two small children have been left unattended when the young woman with them is found dead.  Jane Ryland is on the scene trying to get a story for her newspaper without compromising the feelings that are growing between her and Jack which, if allowed to blossom, would jeopardize both their jobs.

In the meantime, a former colleague of Jane's has asked for her help in finding her real birth mother.  While there are four or more different scenarios being explored in the book, it's a little difficult at first to move back and forth between the story lines.  However, as the investigations and arrests proceed, everything that appeared to be unconnected may, in fact, be linked.  Jane and Jack find themselves turning up at the same location following different leads -- on the murder investigations for him and story lines for her.  Very well written and an absorbing read!  pazt