Synopsis
A wife and mother with a deadly past and a detective seeking the truth.
Publishers Weekly
Patsy Palmer, a happily married suburban mom and successful Charlotte, N.C., real estate agent, has a secret. A really, really big secret. Over two decades ago, when she was known as Vera Lee Gifford, she was convicted of three murders: the owner of the bar where she worked as an exotic dancer, the owner's bodyguard and the wife of her boyfriend's lawyer. After breaking out of prison, she transforms herself into a solid citizen by taking a new name, graduating from college and eventually marrying good-guy Tom Palmer. When younger sister Fancy Lee decides to find Vera, Patsy's picture-perfect life begins to unravel. An old prison pal of Vera's, Thelma Jackson, has been murdered, and Gainesville, Fla., police detective Rodney Ellis, who years ago arrested the teenaged Vera, is called in to investigate. Patsy fights to keep her early years a secret, but soon the past comes back to bite her, and she's fighting for not only her own life but her young daughter's as well. It's a tangled tale whose twists and turns explain the hows and whys, but lackluster writing, a preponderance of coincidence and a familiar story keep the ending and its revelations from being much of a surprise. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.