cover image Truth Stained Lies

Truth Stained Lies

Terri Blackstock. Zondervan, $19.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-310-33156-8

Blackstock (Intervention series), who crossed over from the secular market to Christian fiction, hits her stride with the opener of The Moonlighter series. When Jay, the brother of Cathy, a former lawyer and now investigative blogger, is falsely accused of murdering his ex-wife, she and her two sisters, Holly and Juliet, team up help their brother and to protect Jackson, their five-year-old nephew. Blackstock has six million books in print, and her writing is not too heavy handed; she offers a powerful scene of the accused, Jay, as he tells Jackson about the death of the boy%E2%80%99s mother and his ex-wife. A story rich with texture and suspense, this family murder mystery unfolds with fast pacing, with a creepy clown murder suspect and threatening blog visitor to boot. Through Cathy%E2%80%99s eyes readers see her wrestling with her faith and her pastor father%E2%80%99s lack of faithfulness to his family: "If her father had only known the havoc he%E2%80%99d wrought in his children when he chose his appetites over his family. Would it have mattered?" Agent: Lee Hough, Alive Communications. (Mar.)