Damaged

Callow's predictable romantic suspense debut introduces Kate Lange, a new attorney with one of the top law firms in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She's frustrated at receiving a steady diet of family law cases, but a routine consultation with Marian MacAdam, who wants custody of her granddaughter, Lisa, proves considerably more exciting when the teen is found savagely murdered. Callow throws in standard complications: Lisa's mother is an influential judge, and the assigned detective is Kate's ex-fiancé. Kate advised Marian not to seek custody and ignored her own instinctive urge to call Child Protection Services, believing that bringing a case against a judge would wreck her career; now she worries that her hesitation led to Lisa's death. Readers will find little to love in bland, defensive Kate or the coincidence-heavy plot of her first outing. (June)