Blood & Water: A Pacific Northwest Mystery

Northern California law student Fran Estes learns the hard way that fighting in public with her estranged twin sister, Sid, can have dire repercussions--especially after Sid is found dead the next day. With a severe hangover and no memory of what happened after they fought outside Black Bay's coastal bar, Fran becomes the cops' number one suspect after they learn she will inherit half a million dollars from Sid's death. Since her clothes from that night are bloody, Fran can't be certain that she isn't guilty. But she refuses to be railroaded for the crime, and the only way to save herself is to look into who else might have pushed Sid over a cliff. To counter the police's mounting circumstantial evidence, Fran unearths Sid's last lover in Los Angeles, a druggie named Deke who wasn't taking their breakup well. Although Deke becomes a hot suspect, Fran can't forget how similar Sid's death is to that of their childhood friend April, whose slaying remains unsolved. After a few silent phone calls and an anonymous threatening note, Fran suspects that April's killer had caught up with Sid--and now is about to catch her, too. With well-drawn characters, convincing dialogue and tight prose, Fairweather's suspenseful debut thriller pulls the reader through plot twists as sudden and sharp as the Pacific coast highway. Agent, PMA Agency. (Mar.)