Last Day

In this nail-biting mystery from bestseller Rice (Little Night), heiress Beth Lathrop has a loving husband, a 16-year-old daughter, and a baby on the way. The manager of her family’s prestigious art gallery in Black Hole, Conn., Beth is found one day by her sister, Kate, strangled in her bed with her head cracked open. In the bedroom, a valuable painting has been cut out of its frame and removed. The crime calls to mind a horrific event 23 years earlier, during which the same painting was stolen, and children Beth and Kate were gagged and bound for hours to their mother, who, also gagged, choked to death. Det. Conor Reid, who rescued the girls back then and who, unbeknownst to Beth and Kate, has been trying to protect them ever since, heads the investigation into Beth’s murder. Rice keeps the reader guessing as she gradually doles out long-hidden family secrets. Fans of intense family dramas will be rewarded. [em]Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Feb.) [/em]