Sara and Connor have an exciting relationship, almost too exciting as they open the door to their apartment, half-clothed, to be greeted by Connor’s parents. Connor’s family is very gracious, but Sara didn’t realize how gentrified or how wealthy they were and is quickly intimated by them, in spite of how welcoming and reassuring they are. 

Sara and Connor’s little brother Ryan bond quickly in a flirtatious relationship, and Sara takes sister Siobhan under her wing, sensing that Connor’s married sister is not as happy as she seems by all appearances. At the first lunch with the family (at the country club), Sara is bombarded by Connor’s overbearing ex-fiancée Lily, who is certain that Sara is just a phase and sets out to make Sara as uncomfortable as possible. Sara is well-adjusted and tough and able to hold her own, and even get one or two up on Lily, because, as she points out to Lily, Sara is the one Connor married.  

Sara is in town to investigate Charles Smiths who had millions of dollars taken from his accounts and claims to be the victim of stolen identity. Now the money has been replaced and Sara’s not so sure there is still a case, but the bank still wants her to locate Charles Smiths.

Sara thinks she may have found him and he may have murdered his parents when he was a young man. When Sara and Connor go to meet her first secret informant in a not so savory part of town, shots are fired and she finds the man dead. Undaunted, Sara continues, unaware at first that Connor has lined up his Navy buddies as bodyguards for his headstrong wife. Sara has also picked up a dog in the process who turns up whenever there’s trouble near by, and how does Siobhan’s husband doctor Jackson Reed fit in to all of this?

 While the mystery is a bit dense and complicated and takes a lot of careful reading to follow, Sara and Connor and his family are wonderful characters. The family dynamics among the McNamaras is really great, and the way each one reacts to Sara is wonderful. 

< Sara is a well-grounded young woman, confident enough to enter into a marriage after a short term (one week) relationship, and to keep the marriage going long distance. Doggone is a fun mystery to read, especially for those for whom the characters make the mystery.                                                    

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry