Come Home

Complex family dynamics and carefully concealed secrets drive this gripping stand-alone from Edgar-winner Scottoline (Save Me). Jill Farrow, a Philadelphia pediatrician, and her teenage daughter, Megan, live with Jill’s calm and forbearing fiancé, Sam Becker. When Jill’s estranged 19-year-old ex-stepdaughter, Abby Skyler, rushes into Jill’s home late one rainy night to tell her that her ex-husband, William, is dead, apparently of a drug overdose, Jill can summon little sympathy for the unscrupulous William. When the distraught Abby insists that her father was murdered and that Jill must help her find his killer, Jill is reluctant to get involved, particularly since the police can find no evidence of a crime. As Jill tries to juggle her duties as doctor, mother, and sleuth, her delving into William’s murky past puts emotional strain on Megan and jeopardizes her relationship with Sam. A surfeit of melodrama and some anemic subplots are unlikely to deter the author’s many loyal fans. Author tour. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary Agency. (Apr.)