Best Practices

Florio’s poignant third Nora Best mystery (after 2021’s Best Kept Secrets) finds Nora en route to Montana’s Serendipity Ranch, a therapy camp for troubled young women, where she’s taken a housemother job. On arrival, she learns that a student, Irene Bell, allegedly jumped to her death into a gorge the night before. While authorities rule it a suicide, the girls insist Irene was afraid of heights and would never have voluntarily been near a cliff. Meanwhile, Nora becomes acquainted with the ranch director, Charlie Ennis, whose strict practices, such as forcing girls who don’t finish their oatmeal to eat it for lunch and dinner, she questions. Later, on a hike with the students and Charlie, Nora accidentally stumbles into the same gorge where Irene died and discovers the body of a former housemother at the ranch. Determined to find the truth behind the deaths and expose the ranch’s misconduct, Nora springs into action. A strong female lead and a dramatic look at seldom discussed social injustices more than compensate for a familiar plot and ordinary prose. Hopefully, Nora will be back soon. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Sept.)