A socialite and a cub reporter join forces to solve a thirty-year-old cold case in this gripping mystery from USA Today bestselling author Adrienne Giordano.
Hollywood socialite Rose Trudeau understands loss. As a survivor of the legendary–and unsolved–Grande hotel fire thirty years ago, she still mourns her closest friend who perished in the blaze. And now, the sudden death of her beloved husband forces Rose to once again battle grief.
When pain-in-the-rear cub reporter RaeLynn Demming shows up at Rose’s Bel-Air estate begging for a scoop on the Grande fire, Rose can’t help but admire the young woman’s gumption. Hungry for justice, she agrees to be a source, but she wants more than a fluff piece. She wants an arsonist and murderer caught. Even if it means revisiting the Grande.
The investigation takes the pair to the island of La Paradisio, where sun and sand do nothing to calm the local police. They want these wannabe detectives gone, urging them to leave the sleuthing to the professionals. The whole thing screams cover-up.
Undeterred, Rose and Rae chase leads that turn all-too-personal when Rae finds herself the victim of a threat. Will their investigation uncover secrets an arsonist will do anything to protect?
Review:
This was a fun read! It’s not a romance, of course, but it nonetheless kept me turning the pages, needing to find out if Rose and Rae were going to be able to figure out who started the thirty-year-old fire, and why.
Spoiler alert–they do! And it’s quite the story watching them get there, because Rae and Rose together make quite the duo. After years of refusing to talk to reporters about the fire that killed her best friend, Rose actually sees a lot of herself in Rae, which not only made her agree to talk to her in the first place but kept things interesting as they took on this cold case. I enjoyed seeing things from both characters’ points of view (OMG, both Rose’s thoughts about Rae’s wardrobe and Rae’s names for Rose’s different “faces” and moods made me LOL) and can’t wait to see what these two authors have in store for us (and Rae and Rose) next!
And also…dare I hope for a romantic subplot or two along the way? 😉
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.