Nowhere To Run

Botulism, anthrax, smallpox, plague: as medical producer for television's highly-rated morning news program, Annabelle Murphy makes her living explaining horrific conditions to the nation. So when a KEY News colleague dies with symptoms terrifyingly similar to those of anthrax, she knows the panic spreading through the corridors of the Broadcast Center is justified.

As one death follows another, Annabelle's co-workers look to her for assurance, but she finds it hard to give comfort. To her, the circumstances surrounding the infections suggest diabolical murders.

And when the authorities lock down the Broadcast Center with the identity of the killer still unknown, neither the victims nor the murderer can escape...

When There's No One To Trust...

Botulism, anthrax, smallpox, plague: as medical producer for television's highly-rated morning news program, Annabelle Murphy makes her living explaining horrific conditions to the nation. So when a KEY News colleague dies with symptoms terrifyingly similar to those of anthrax, she knows the panic spreading through the corridors of the Broadcast Center is justified.

And No One Is Safe...

As one death follows another, Annabelle's co-workers look to her for assurance, but she finds it hard to give comfort. To her, the circumstances surrounding the infections suggest diabolical murders.

There's Nowhere To Run.

And when the authorities lock down the Broadcast Center with the identity of the killer still unknown, neither the victims nor the murderer can escape...

"The dexterity in keeping so many guilty-looking characters afloat at once and the revelation of a truly surprising killer make Clark's sixth dispatch from KEY News her best." -Kirkus Reviews

"Clark has perfected the suspense novel, where in classic Christie fashion, everyone is a potential suspect...timely, and downright fun." -Booklist

"A fast-paced story line...a winner. Readers will appreciate this strong whodunit." -Midwest Book Reviews

Publishers Weekly

CBS veteran Clark (Nobody Knows) brings a network news producer's sensibility to the story of a newsroom in the throes of anthrax-induced pandemonium. In quick chapters that jump-cut among numerous points of view, Clark narrates a nerve-racking week in the life of KEY News producer Annabelle Murphy. When Annabelle's medical correspondent, Dr. John Lee, holds up what he says is a vial of weapons-grade anthrax on morning TV, panic ensues: executives call management meetings, security agents peer into spy cameras, the FBI snoops around and doctors dispense Cipro. Lee's anthrax proves to be table sugar-but then Annabelle's colleague Jerome Henning, who's quietly been writing a nasty tell-all, lands in the hospital and quickly succumbs to the disease. A food-service worker is murdered next, and another person is found dead. Annabelle frets about Jerome's manuscript and tries to figure out what's going on, all the while unwittingly carrying anthrax spores in her coat pocket. Who needs terrorists when there are so many office villains around? There's the aging, control-freak male bigwig, the driven female executive, the insider-trading business reporter and the cocaine-sniffing theater reviewer, to name a few. Clark's spare prose depends on brisk dialogue and rapid-fire action sequences, and her stereotypical characters are pastiches of a few simple virtues, flaws and guilty secrets. Still, the yarn entertains with a little network gossip and a short lesson in bio-terror, all seen through the eyes of a network producer who starts out fearing for her job and ends up fearing for her life. Agent, Laura Dail. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Mary Jane Clark is the author of six novels, including: Do You Want To Know A Secret, Do You Promise Not To Tell, Let Me Whisper In Your Ear, Close To You, and Nobody Knows. She is a producer and a writer at CBS News in New York City and lives in New Jersey.