GETTING AWAY IS DEADLY

An Air Force wife turns a vacation in the nation’s capital into a murder hunt.

Ellie and Mitch Avery are ready for a vacation when Mitch is ordered to attend special training in Washington, D.C. It’s not exactly what they planned, but pregnant Ellie enjoys the historic sites until she witnesses a murder: A man she’d recently seen talking to their tour guide is pushed off a subway platform. When her sister-in-law Summer becomes a suspect, Ellie feels she must get involved. Although Summer had been babysitting the daughter of her employers, the Archers, at the time of the murder, her Metro card is found at the scene, and someone who looks a lot like her is picked up on surveillance cameras. Summer pushes Ellie into organizing the little Archer girl’s bedroom for a photo shoot meant to showcase her politically ambitious mother. It’s there that she picks up a memory chip containing information about a terrorist organization. In addition to trying to help Summer, Ellie meets a friend of her cousin Debbie’s father, whose fate in Korea remains mysterious—and related to Ellie’s current case. As she flits around Washington’s tourist destinations searching for clues, her sleuthing skills get her into potentially fatal trouble.

Hyperorganized Ellie (Staying Home is a Killer, 2007, etc.) is an engaging heroine, always ready with tips for ordering your life.