Monday, September 27, 2010

The Damage Done-Hilary Davidson

The Damage Done
Hilary Davidson
Forge, Sep 28 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765326973

Travel journalist Lily Moore is in Spain when she learns that her drug addict younger sister Claudia apparently drowned in a bathtub. She is stunned as this is on the same day their mom committed suicide years ago. Hysterical Lily leaves Europe for Manhattan.

Lily goes to the morgue to identify the body only the corpse is not Claudia. Apparently the dead stranger has impersonated Claudia for months. NYPD detectives Norah Renfrew and "Brux" Bruxton lead the investigation in which the only suspect is the missing Claudia, but anxious Lily searches for her sibling too. Her former boyfriend wealthy Martin Sklar keeps pushing her for a second chance, Lily finds out that Claudia had hooked up with a recently deceased pseudo-psychologist whose tendency was to get unprofessionally too close with his female patients.

Although The Damage Done contains two interrelated strong mysteries, the story line is character driven by mostly Lily. Her need to find her sister brings a humanizing genuineness to the whodunit; especially the amateur sleuth elements as she searches irregardless of her own safety and in spite of the sibling estrangement. Readers will want Moore thrillers like this one from Hilary Davidson.

Harriet Klausner

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