Annie Archer shows up on Jane’s doorstep having heard about Jane’s PI skills hoping Jane will help her locate Annie’s stepfather who vanished years ago after Annie’s mother died.  Annie has no money to pay Jane, but she is willing to work and Jane has taken a liking to Annie, so she agrees.

  Jane, with the help of usual sidekick Cordelia (who is only semi-involved as she is straightening out custody issues of her niece Hattie), quickly figures out Johnny Archer is now living nearby as Jack Bowman.  Jack is married to Realtor Susan and has helped raise her two children, Curt and Sunny, as his own.  Further complicating relationships is the affair that Susan is having with one of her associates and the liking pre-med Curt has taken to Annie, an almost obsessive liking. 

Susan wants to get away from Jack and decides the best way to that is to kill him, but it is Susan’s body that is found at the bottom of the stairs in the house they share.  Annie immediately suspects Jack who is very glib and has a good line; Jane also thinks Jack makes a good suspect, and though she is very [mutually] attracted to Annie, it doesn’t get past her that Susan died shortly after Annie arrived in town.  

Annie is only completely honest with Jane at the very end, and even then it seems as if she is holding something back.  Her motives for finding Johnny/Jack are unclear, and when she finds him and tells him what she wants it doesn’t seem to fit entirely with Annie’s character.  When Jane muses that she feels she and Annie could have had a long-term relationship (“I could have loved you.”), it is surprising given Jane’s less than stellar track record with relationships and the fact that Annie hid so much from Jane at first.  

The mystery of who killed Susan is not hard to figure out, though a selfless act at the end is surprising.  The complex relationships and interesting characters past, present and future are what help this thoughtfully titled mystery from being run-of-the-mill.                                                 

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry