The Cradle in the Grave

July 25, 2011
Hannah focuses on the dangerous gray area between guilt and innocence in her provocative fifth mystery featuring Det. Sgt. Charlotte "Charlie" Zailer and Det. Constable Simon Waterhouse of the Culver Valley police (after The Dead Lie Down). When TV producer Felicity "Fliss" Benson receives an anonymous card with 16 numbers on it, she's puzzled, but she soon has bigger worries. Her boss, famed investigative journalist Laurence "Laurie" Nattrass, suddenly puts her in charge of his BBC documentary on the "miscarriages of justice" surrounding women falsely accused of murdering their children. One of the documentary subjects is Helen Yardley, convicted of killing her two infant sons, whom she claimed were victims of crib death. When Helen, whose conviction was later overturned, is murdered and an identical number card is found on her body, Fliss fears the killer is targeting those connected to the documentary. Hannah merges her myriad story lines with practiced ease. 10-city author tour.

August 15, 2011

What happens after the jury gets it wrong. Or does it?

For reasons he declines to illuminate, Laurie Nattrass suddenly leaves Binary Star Productions and hands over the documentary he's been working on for several years to Fliss Benson, who would rather not be saddled with it. The feature focuses on the misguided testimony of pathologist Judith Duffy, which sent two woman to prison for murdering their children, and Laurie's investigation, which got the doctor stricken from the medical rolls, set the mothers free, and led to the acquittal of another mother up on the same charges. Not only does the documentary bring up a tragedy within Fliss' family, but two of the mothers are now having doubts about participating. Then one of them is attacked, another is murdered, and someone leaves cards with 16 identical numbers arranged in four rows of four at the crime scenes and sends one to Fliss. DI Gil Proust, DC Simon Waterhouse and his partner Charlie Zailer (The Truth-Teller's Lie, 2010, etc.) step in to determine whether a vigilante has decided that the juries were right the first time around in determining that these were not unassisted crib deaths, a conclusion shared by the husband of one of the mothers. A tell-all memoir holds clues, but before they can be deciphered, more complications arise.

Hannah, who understands every neurotic twitch, blemish and lie a person is capable of, is just the thing for those who followed the Casey Anthony murder trial.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Within the span of a week, a crazed killer has gripped London by attacking mothers who have been convicted--and acquitted--in a sensationalist rash of crib death cases. One of the victims is known for her heartrending memoir and is also the centerpiece of an in-progress TV documentary. A puzzle card is left on her body; the same card is mailed to the TV producers. Fliss Benson, the producer in charge of the project, becomes pivotal to the case, running somewhat parallel with the intrepid detectives Simon Waterhouse, Sam Kombothekra, and Charlie Zailer (The Dead Lie Down). VERDICT Hannah's frenetically paced psychological thriller is a searing indictment of our judicial system and the media's role in fueling collective hysteria. Known for combining her police procedurals with woman-in-peril suspense novels, she again succeeds in scaring our shoes off. Readalikes to consider would be Nicci French and Joy Fielding.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Hannah, author of masterfully crafted psychological thrillers, this time spins a complex tale centered on a controversial social issue. Imprisoned for killing her two sons and forced to give up her infant daughter, Helen Yardley was pardoned years later after expert testimony at her trial was challenged. Finally free, she is promptly murdered. Although filmmaker Fliss Benson wants nothing to do with the Yardley case, her boss assigns her to complete a documentary on wrongly-accused mothers, including Yardley. Her interest is piqued, however, after she receives an anonymous card with a grid of 16 numbers that is just like the one left on Yardley's body. Investigating officer DC Simon Waterhouse, chafing against his hated superior, who worked the original Yardley case, involves his fianc'e, DS Charlie Zailer, and the two find themselves seeking not only the murderer but also the truth about the charges against Yardley and another mother accused of murder. The quirks of the Waterhouse-Zailer relationship add interest and even some comic relief from the pain portrayed in this compelling novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)