Her Sister’s Death

This engrossing standalone from Murphy (the Detective Cancini mysteries) entwines two deaths a century apart. In the present, Val Ritter, a crime reporter for a Baltimore newspaper, is devastated by the death of her sister, Sylvia, who overdosed on drugs while staying at the Franklin Hotel, one of the city’s oldest and finest establishments. The police are quick to rule the death a suicide and soon grow tired of Val’s insistence that her sister was murdered. Her only ally in her quest for the truth is Terry Martin, a former police detective who now runs a private security firm. In 1921, Bridget Wallace is betrothed to Lawrence Hartwood, a wealthy older man who seemingly dotes on her but has a violent temper. Their honeymoon venue is the Franklin Hotel, where death will claim one of them. Murphy keeps the tension high by skillfully alternating chapters told from the points of view of Val, Terry, and Bridget. Their overlapping stories raise tantalizing questions: how are their lives connected, and might there be an evil spirit lurking on the Franklin Hotel’s 13th floor? Readers will eagerly turn the pages to find out. (Dec.)