Gina Hamilton Manzarelli is a former newspaper reporter and an amateur sleuth, who has helped police solve several crimes over the last 20 years. She’s married to Joe, a lawyer whose best friend was murdered, although it was originally ruled a suicide. That was the first crime Gina helped solve, and what brought Joe and Gina together.
Today, Gina is a novelist writing fictional accounts of the crimes she covered as a reporter. Joe is the county district attorney.
Gina can’t seem to get that sleuthing bug out of her system, though, so when she learns of the deaths of six St. Bonaventure University students she knows she has to investigate.
Being a university alumna, and having worked at the nearby and closely related Franciscan Sisters of Allegany for several years, Gina’s presence on campus is not viewed as unusual. Most people who know her also know her background as a reporter so they don’t see anything unusual in her asking questions about the deaths.
Original speculation in the community was drug overdoses or accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Because the police weren’t giving out much information, all people could do was speculate.
A couple of days pass before police confirm the deaths were murders, but they don’t provide much more information than that.
Frantic family members and scared community members get wind of Gina’s investigation and go to her with questions, clues and answers because the police are saying just enough to placate them, but not enough to give them any confidence that they’ll solve the crimes.
After talking with dozens of people and reading numerous theories online, Gina thinks she knows the motive for the murders. After a bit more digging, she thinks she may know who the murderer is.
It wouldn’t be a Joe and Gina story if Gina didn’t find herself in some kind of jeopardy, so that is part of the action as well.
Also, it wouldn’t be a Joe and Gina story with their son Zach and his daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine. After the first story, Katherine has been only a minor player but she once again has a major part in helping to solve the case. As in the first story, she also finds herself in a dangerous situation.
This is a story that’s ripped from the headlines, but with a couple of twists thrown in.
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