cover image Front Page Teaser: A Liz Higgins Mystery

Front Page Teaser: A Liz Higgins Mystery

Rosemary Herbert, Down East (NBN, dist.), $14.95 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-89272-852-7

Herbert, the editor of several mystery anthologies and editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing, turns that wealth of experience to effective use in her intelligent and thought-provoking mystery debut. Liz Higgins, a feature reporter for the Beantown Banner with hard news aspirations, jumps at the opportunity to help cover the disappearance of Ellen Johansson, who goes missing from her suburban Boston home the week before Christmas in 2000, leaving a blood-spattered kitchen and some conflicting clues. Dogged reporting leads Higgins on a trail that includes Johansson's reading habits, her correspondence with an Israeli pen pal, a chance encounter with a New York City cab driver, and an incident buried in Johansson's childhood. Herbert makes artful use of the looming date of 9/11 as the action builds to an unexpected but satisfying outcome. (Oct.)