Notorious

January 6, 2014
New York City journalist Maxine “Max” Revere, famed for her interest in cold cases and the star of this competent series debut from Brennan (Love Me to Death), is driven by the one case she never solved years before: the one that left Lindy Ames dead and Kevin O’Neal destroyed by the shadow of unproven suspicion. When Kevin commits suicide, Max returns home to Atherton, Calif., where she finds an insular community whose wealthy families—including hers—will close ranks rather than betray their own to the law. The recent shooting death of a construction worker at Atherton Prep, Max’s old high school, soon engages her. Despite the opposition of the local police, Maxine forges ahead in her quest for justice for the dead, but will her resolve hold when the trail leads back to her own family? While this first entry, reminiscent in many ways of TV’s Veronica Mars, lacks nuance, Brennan has set up a sound foundation for more complex future installments. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House.

Eliza Foss delivers a winning performance of this new thriller about an investigative reporter specializing in cold cases. Maxine Revere, an heiress from a fancy Bay Area exurb, returns home for the funeral of her schoolmate Kevin, a suicide. Soon she is waist-deep in a cold case from her own past--who killed her best friend from high school? Her first boyfriend? Her cousin William? Kevin? And while we're at it, where is her runaway mother, and her vanished college roommate? Brennan has an overstuffed backstory to establish, and she often repeats or over-explains, but Foss is impeccable, her voice warm and engaging, her vocal technique impressive. She performs as if she's totally in the moment with Maxine, and sweeps the listener with her. B.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine