cover image What Lies Beneath: A Laura Chambers Mystery

What Lies Beneath: A Laura Chambers Mystery

J.G. Hetherton. Crooked Lane, $27.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-64385-020-7

Hetherton’s exciting sequel to 2018’s Last Girl Gone finds Laura Chambers, hard-charging investigative reporter for the Hillsborough Gazette, enmeshed in a case that hits way too close to home. Simon Barrow (aka the Shotgun Slayer) was convicted of murdering Bob and Linda Merritt back in 1996. The Merritts lived on a farm in Hillsborough, N.C., a town that’s become infamous since the murder. As Barrow’s execution date nears in 2019, Laura writes a retrospective of the case that gets plenty of attention. Soon afterward, a young woman is killed on a local highway, and it turns out she had tried to call Laura four times before her death. The sheriff’s office believes Laura knows more than she’s sharing and warns her off the case, but she’s determined to investigate further, whatever the cost. The cost, it turns out, is steep indeed as Laura loses far more than her credibility with the local police and her boss at the Hillsborough Gazette. Hetherton’s sure hand provides plenty of action and intrigue, with well-defined yet deeply flawed characters. Readers will want more. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (July)