A Promise of Ruin

Set in Manhattan in 1907, Overholt’s engrossing sequel to A Deadly Affection finds psychiatrist Genevieve Summerford watching a July 4th boat race when the body of a young woman is pulled from the East River. The victim is later identified as Lucia Siavo, an immigrant from Naples who planned to join her fiancé in America. By chance, Genevieve learns that a woman with a similar background, Teresa Casoria, recently disappeared just after arriving on U.S. soil. Certain that it can’t be coincidence, she hopes that Teresa can still be saved. A police unit dedicated to crimes within the Italian community and the residents of a refuge for fallen women point her toward Italian criminal networks. Meanwhile, Genevieve’s romance with Simon Shaw, once her affluent family’s stablehand but now a Tammany district captain, remains fraught. Though Genevieve’s professional expertise is less central in this installment, Overholt delivers satisfying plot twists, and her themes of immigration-fueled tensions and crimes against women are well researched and timely. [em]Agent: Victoria Cappello, Bent Agency. (Aug.) [/em]