by Lisa Lutz
Part of The Spellmans, book 3
First published 2009
Isabel Spellman sits in her therapist's office, ordered there by a court after she got too involved with her last case. She's taking a break from Spellman Investigations, the family business, but money problems force her to accept a simple surveillance job. A suspicious husband wants his wife followed. Isabel tells herself it's routine work, but the case raises more questions than it answers. Her family adds to the confusion. Her usually neat brother David now looks disheveled and sloppy. Her sister Rae, who typically fails her classes, suddenly aces every exam. Only her parents behave predictably, scheming to lure Isabel back to the family agency. Isabel can't sleep. She forgets where she parked her car. Her therapy sessions go nowhere despite her shrink's efforts. Most troubling of all, she can't sort out her feelings about Detective Henry Stone, who plans to move in with his new girlfriend.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, detective, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Spellman Investigations
Period: contemporary
375 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: mental-illness