The Mortician's Daughter

June 19, 2006
At the start of Bloom's twisting, turning sophomore effort (after 2005's See Isabelle Run
), Ginny Lavoie, a New York City policewoman under investigation for corruption, receives a distraught phone call from her childhood friend Sonya who lives in Ginny's hometown in western Massachusetts. Sonya's teenage son has been found beaten to death, and she wants Ginny to help sort out what happened—the local authorities are strangely eager to close the case. Back in the depressed, postindustrial town she left years ago, Ginny is compelled to confront a past she has long tried to leave behind. Though some of Bloom's supporting characters strain credibility, she reveals enough of Ginny's interior musings to lend the lead character considerable depth. An excellent sense of place serves the story well, and bits of regional humor further enliven the action.

June 1, 2006
Returning to the small Massachusetts mill town she left ten years earlier seems like a good idea to suspended New York City cop Ginny Lavoie. But what started as a request from her best friend to find the murderer of her 19-year-old son quickly becomes a complex investigation involving a number of secrets hidden for 15 years. Ginny peels back layers of guilt, remorse, and past crimes while dodging attempts on her life. Bloom ("See Isabel Run") is a pseudonym for Beth Saulnier, the author of four crime novels featuring Alex Bernier. It does not matter what name she uses, as her books are always of the highest quality. She lives in Ithaca, NY. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ "4/1/06.]

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2006
Ginny Lavoie may be depressed over her suspension from the New York Police Department, but her woes pale in comparison to those of her childhood friend, Sonya, whose 19-year-old adopted son, Danny, was savagely murdered in their hometown of North Adams, Massachusetts. (Sonya took over the care of Danny the moment her deadbeat sister left the 15-month-old at her doorstep.) Ginny returns to the onetime mill town to investigate and is soon exchanging barbs with the bombastic local police chief and kisses with her old high-school sweetheart, Jimmy. Danny's troubles, it seems, coincided with his search for his birth mother, but who in the town didn't want them to reconnect? No one, it seems, is above suspicion, from a homeless Vietnam vet to a cool Manhattanite known for dealing crystal meth. More deaths--and a grim discovery at a popular town landmark--lead determined Ginny to a series of startling truths. Bloom (" See Isabelle Run, " 2005) delivers suspense and a colorful, if somewhat cliched, portrait of life in a small New England town. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)