cover image Life Without Parole: 
A Kate Conway Mystery

Life Without Parole: A Kate Conway Mystery

Clare O’Donohue. Plume, $15 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-452-29782-1

Two reality shows preoccupy Kate Conway in O’Donohue’s outstanding second mystery featuring the freelance Chicago TV producer (after 2011’s Missing Persons). When Kate signs on to Opening Night, a show about a new restaurant, she discovers that Vera Bingham, her late husband’s mistress, has brought her on board the show. Kate, despite her resentment and generally crusty nature, takes a liking to the charmingly friendly Vera. For a second show, Life Without Parole, a documentary about convicts who will die in prison, Kate interviews two very different men: Brick Tyler, an unapologetically tough murderer; and Tim Campbell, who seems sweet—maybe too sweet. Kate’s crew, cameraman Andres Pena and sound man Victor Pilot, work with Kate on both shows and provide a somewhat dysfunctional family dynamic. When one of the investors in the restaurant is murdered, suspicion falls at first on Vera. The convicted murderers supply Kate with some surprising clues. Agent: Sharon Bowers, the Miller Agency. (May)