LaRosa, a producer of the CBS newsmagazine 48 Hours
, kicks off that show's true crime paperback series with this riveting account of the horrific 2004 murder of two young women living in the peaceful wine country of Napa, Calif. On Halloween night, Lauren Meanza awakes to the screams of her housemate, Adriane Insogna. Taking cover in the backyard, Lauren watches as an intruder escapes through a window; inside she finds Adriane bleeding profusely and their other housemate, Leslie Mazzara, laying unresponsive nearby. Neither survive. Police investigation of the murders focuses on Adriane's troubled relationship with boyfriend Christian and the many paramours of former beauty queen Leslie. When a look into Leslie's past leads law enforcement to a number of dead ends, and the suspects all fail to match DNA evidence from the crime scene, the investigation stagnates; new developments, however, eventually reveal another suspect. LaRosa's clear chronology and thorough research give the tale the weight of reality, while his skillful winnowing of details and novellike prose keep the pace up and the pages turning; anyone with a taste for true crime will happily gulp down this sharp, satisfying narrative. (May)
