The Body Reader

Jude Fontaine, the heroine of this absorbing, if contrived, thriller from Frasier (Garden of Darkness), escapes from a brutal sadist who held her captive in a basement for three years and tries to reclaim her position as a homicide detective with the Minneapolis PD. Four months after fleeing her torturer, Jude is back on the force and partnered with Det. Uriah Ashby, who doubts Jude’s readiness. Jude and Uriah deal with her old files as well as a new case of a young woman’s body found floating in Lake of the Isles. Jude’s captivity has made her acutely attuned to even the subtlest of expressions (hence the title). Meanwhile, she wrestles with family issues. She’s estranged from her father, Gov. Phillip Schilling; her mother was accidently shot when she was eight; and her older brother is a notorious playboy. A violent confrontation with her father gets her booted off the force, but Jude persists on her own as connections between cases old and new lead to results both surprising and unlikely. [em](June) [/em]