The Dirty Secrets Club-Meg Gardiner

The Dirty Secrets Club
Meg Gardiner
Dutton, Jun 2008, $24.95
ISBN: 9780525950660

A string of celebrity murders-suicides has shaken San Francisco; none make sense as the victims and culprits are not just rich and famous they seem mentally stable. The final straw for the beleaguered police department is when highly regarded prosecutor Callie Harding drove her BMW off a bridge onto a minivan below. Desperate the SFPD hire forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jo Beckett as a consultant. Considering herself to be an expert "deadshrinker", Jo performs psychological autopsies.

Though still grieving the death of her husband, Jo teams up with SFPD Lieutenant Amy Tang. The pair soon finds a link between the recent deaths and a nebulous group, the Dirty Secrets Club, whose members are some of the city’s most famous and affluent. Jo begins to theorize that a debunked former associate may be causing members like the 49er football star to commit suicide.

This is an exciting police procedural starring a fascinating forensic expert and a tough minded cop. The investigation is superb as the two intrepid females make inquires that take them deeper inside THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB whose members prefer death to exposure. Readers will enjoy Meg Gardiner’s excellent whodunit as the streets of San Francisco have rarely been more appealing.

Harriet Klausner