Whisper Room: A Geneva Chase Crime Reporter Mystery

A last-minute freelancing job covering Connecticut newscaster Elliot Carlson’s hostage situation leads to trouble for reporter Geneva Chase in her busy fifth outing from Kies (after 2021’s Shadow Hill). Carlson, with a rifle, has taken his wife hostage in their mansion after a blackmailer released a salacious video of him having sex with an underage girl. His marriage and career destroyed, Carlson blames the Whisper Room app, an online high-end escort service, and its creators for his downfall. After the peaceful resolution of the hostage situation, Geneva tracks down the owner of the Whisper Room, who claims the blackmailer is Matt Boca, a would-be business competitor. Geneva’s story turns darker with the discovery of Boca’s ties to a sex trafficking ring smuggling teenage girls and the bodies of two Whisper Room escorts surface in Long Island Sound. In the end, Geneva discovers a dreadfully human reason for the murder of the Whisper Room’s escorts. Readers will hope to see a lot more of the down-to-earth Geneva, who manages to raise a foster daughter and resist the bottle’s siren call while flushing out killers. Sara Paretsky fans will find much to like. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Assoc. (Aug.)