The Girl Next Door

Carter Ross’s insignificant decision to write a feature obit about hit-and-run victim Nancy Marino, a hard-working waitress and deliverer of the very newspaper for which he works, plunges him into a far more sinister—and surprisingly dangerous—story in Shamus and Nero Award–winner Parks’s darkly humorous third mystery starring the street-smart Newark Eagle-Examiner investigative reporter. Quickly discovering there was more to the middle-aged everywoman than met the eye, including her role as a leader in her union’s acrimonious labor dispute at the paper, Ross starts to suspect her death was no accident. Meanwhile, he must try to mollify his sexy editor, Tina Thompson, and attempt to wrangle an erudite but clueless intern appropriately nicknamed Lunky. Despite a less than surprising denouement, Park (Eyes of the Innocent) hits home with this installment of quirky characters, convincing color, and a Sopranos-worthy ragout of high drama and low comedy. Author tour. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Mar.)