No One You Know

Richmond (The Year of Fog ) returns to San Francisco for another enjoyable blend of mystery and domestic fiction. Twenty years ago, Ellie Enderlin's sister, Lila, a mathematical prodigy, was murdered, and Andrew Thorpe, Ellie's English professor and a friend, exploited the family's grief with a true-crime bestseller that claimed Peter McConnell, Lila's married lover and colleague, was the killer. On a coffee-buying trip to Nicaragua, Ellie encounters McConnell, whose life was destroyed by Thorpe's conjecture. Sparked by this meeting, Ellie traces her way back through Lila's life and work, pursuing leads that the manipulative Thorpe abandoned when they did not fit his literary ambitions. Though many of Ellie's suspects lead her to dead ends, each gives her greater understanding of her sister, of mathematics and of herself. When she finally discovers the truth, Ellie's clarity about the past brings her new hope for the future. Vivid descriptions and loving explanations of the city and intelligent forays into the sciences of coffee and mathematics enhance Richmond's quietly captivating novel. (June)