Identity

April 7, 2014
The world of sperm donation provides the backdrop for Thoft’s gripping sequel to 2013’s Loyalty. Renata Sanchez, a housing advocate for the poor in Boston, believes that she and her 17-year-old daughter, Rosie, deserve to know the identity of Rosie’s anonymous donor father, despite Renata’s having signed a confidentiality agreement. Lawyer Carl Ludlow agrees to bring suit against the Heritage Cryobank on Renata’s behalf. Fina Ludlow, who works as a PI for her father’s law firm, discovers the father of Rosie, as well as of several other children, to be a prominent entrepreneur, Hank Reardon. When Hank dies under suspicious circumstances after his paternity of sperm donor offspring is exposed to the media, Fina investigates, though she’s handicapped by complicated dysfunctional family issues manifested both at home and at the office. Two romantic entanglements add spice. A quirky and empathetic heroine, a fast-moving plot, and a surprise ending make this a winner. Agent: Helen Brann, Helen Brann Agency.

May 1, 2014
A free-wheeling Boston private eye learns the unintended consequences of charitable donations.Fina Ludlow lives on diet soda and junk, wins no prizes for housekeeping, juggles two part-time lovers, has an iffy relationship with the truth and prefers the streets to the conference room of her family's prestigious law firm. Her father doesn't approve of her, but he does find her talents useful, especially when she does some sleuthing for a client who's suing Heritage Cryobank to learn the identity of her daughter's sperm donor. Fina spares no effort (not all of it strictly legal) to out the father, Hank Reardon, a high-tech billionaire with a son by his first marriage, a daughter by his second and the offspring of some impulsive contributions to Heritage shortly after his college graduation. Although he offers to do right by his recently discovered issue, someone's unhappy enough to bludgeon him to death in the parking lot of his company. When Michael Reardon hires Fina to find out who killed his father, she has to determine why two of his cryokids have phony alibis, how angry Hank's partner was about being left out of a lucrative waterfront deal, why Hank's former wife and current wife have dueling charities in the Boston area, and why, just before his death, Hank made several phone calls to the director of Heritage. In spite of warnings that grow increasingly physical, Fina won't give up in a whodunit that maddeningly builds up momentum and then jams on the brakes to describe the hair and eye color of even minor characters or Fina's snack of choice.Thoft (Loyalty, 2013) doesn't hold back on her gutsy detective's flaws or on irrelevant side trips. But Fina's second outing is a mostly enjoyable roller-coaster tour of the rapidly changing world of assisted reproduction.

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April 15, 2014
Not long after her last case ("Loyalty"), PI Fina Ludlow is still reeling from some heinous revelations about her family, so another mystery to solve is just what she needs. Renata Sanchez is a single mom who wants to find the sperm donor who resulted in her daughter, Rosie. The giver turns out to be a prominent man with connections in high places, but, luckily, Fina, whose father is one of Boston's most successful attorneys, has plenty of connections of her own. When the donor turns up dead, Fina soon realizes that there is much more than DNA at the heart of this case, and if she doesn't find the killer quick, she and her family might soon be targets. VERDICT In the second book featuring the pragmatic, gastronomically insatiable Fina Ludlow, Thoft takes a look at assisted reproduction and some of the ethics behind it, which dovetails nicely with the running theme of complex family dynamics. Fina is mercurial, dogged, somewhat snarky, and rarely takes no for an answer. Fans of Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt, Bill Loehfelm's Maureen Coughlin, or readers who like their heroines rough around the edges yet with plenty of heart will enjoy this very entertaining and surprising series.--Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Fina Ludlow, investigator for her family's prestigious law firm, wields battle-tested radar for detecting lies and manipulations, but her latest case will challenge her resilience as she juggles her own high-stakes family drama and unravels an investigation that reaches a new level of dysfunction. Crusading community activist Renata Sanchez wants to sue the cryobank that supplied the sperm for her daughter's conception. She asserts that her daughter should have the right to know her father's identity, even though Renata signed a contract guaranteeing his anonymity. Incomprehensibly, Fina's firm takes the case, and Fina identifies the donor as millionaire entrepreneur Hank Reardon, but her task quickly switches to finding a killer when he's murdered just after offering a settlement in the case. Thoft skillfully balances the array of business, family, and cryobank-related motives, and she crafts a great climax. Scrappy Fina's character is uncommonly fully realized, and, although readers will find plenty to love about her, her survival skills have instilled a realistic layer of self-absorption and insensitivity (e.g., constant referrals to cryokids ) that's sometimes off-putting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)