Melancholy Baby

Boston P.I. Sunny Randall — as conflicted as she is beautiful — helps a troubled young woman locate her birth parents, only to uncover some dark truths of her own.

My ex-husband was getting married to a woman I wanted to kill. I didn’t actually know her, and killing her would only make matters worse. But I got as much pleasure out of the idea as I could before I had to let go of it.

And so begins the fourth novel in the bestselling series featuring Sunny Randall, who now faces the unthinkable: the marriage of her ex-husband, Richie, to someone else. Despite the formality of divorce, Sunny and Richie’s relationship continued, in its own headstrong way, until his desire for marriage overtook her need for freedom. Now Sunny must try to pull herself together and move on — or around — these emotional roadblocks. When college student Sarah Markham comes asking for help in finding her birth parents, Sunny realizes she must take the case, if only to distract herself from her personal life. Sarah has long felt something was not quite right about her family, and though her father was loving, her relationship with her mother has been chilly at best. Sunny’s initial inquiries have some alarming consequences.

The P.I.’s life and work have a curious — and dangerous — way of intersecting: before the investigation has a chance to really take off, two key players are dead, and Sunny is back on a psychiatrist’s couch, probing her own past for clues. What she discovers has the potential to shatter Sarah Markham’s family and destroy her sense of self, while Sunny’s own beliefs are put to the ultimate test.

Emotionally complex and rich with insight, is the Grand Master at his storytelling best.