MURDER INK

Hechtman abandons her usual crafters to present an altogether more cerebral heroine.

Veronica Blackstone is a writer for hire. The unfinished follow-up to her national bestseller is sitting on a shelf. As she tries to overcome writer’s block, she keeps her hand in by running a writers’ group and taking on various assignments. Her latest gigs are creating notes for Evan, a computer nerd angling for a date with an attractive co-worker, and writing a biography for distribution at the funeral service of Rachel Parker, whose wedding vows Veronica wrote only a year ago. Rachel, who seemed to Veronica to be wildly happy, has either fallen or jumped from her apartment balcony. Her wealthy parents prefer that her death be ruled an accident. As she researches Rachel's biography, though, Veronica becomes convinced that she may have been pushed, and her snooping attracts unwanted attention. Rachel loved teaching, had joined a dance gym, and had a handsome, charismatic husband in Luke. But she seems to have developed delusions, and now someone is gaslighting Veronica, trying to convince her that she too is losing her mind. Police officer Ben Monroe, a member of the writing group, advises her to drop her investigation. As she follows in Rachel’s footsteps, determined to uncover the truth, Veronica becomes more involved in Evan’s dating woes even as she fights an attraction to Ben, who like her is divorced and gun-shy.

Plenty of plot twists and an appealing heroine with a reluctant love interest. What’s not to like?