From Publishers Weekly
The appearance of The Whole Truth a year ago jolted readers and thrilled critics. Pickard, a popular writer of conventional mysteries, took off on a risky, imaginative tangent, making her protagonist, Marie Lightfoot, an author of true crime books, and alternating Lightfoot's personal story with her work-in-progress. Now Lightfoot is back, and once again Pickard crafts a marvelous behind-the-scenes thriller. As the novel begins, Lightfoot is beginning to edit her latest true-crime thriller, set in her hometown, Bahia Beach, Fla. The tale she has to tell is riveting minister Bob Wing and his lover, Artie, murder the minister's wife, Susanna but Lightfoot can't shake the feeling that some crucial element is missing. Nobody has anything bad to say about the charismatic Wing, who was an anti-death penalty crusader. He is now on death row himself, right next to Steve Orbach, a young man he had been trying to liberate. Once Lightfoot begins to investigate, both cases are revealed to be full of holes. How to explain the seven pairs of wedding rings found by the two little girls when they discovered Susanna's body? Is it possible that the police were too eager to arrest and convict both men? The clock is ticking for Orbach and Wing, and the separate solutions to the mysteries only come to light at the very last minute. Cleverly unraveling Lightfoot's original manuscript as she proceeds, Pickard constructs an intricate, perfectly timed double mystery. The dastardly plot she reveals at last is satisfyingly grotesque, and Lightfoot is a down-to-earth heroine, plagued with all the convincing problems of a real-life writer. Pickard never lets her premise descend into gimmick this second installment is as fresh and satisfying as the first. Mystery Guild Main Selection. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
SEX, VIOLENCE, EVIL, AND BETRAYAL The shocking murder case splashed across the Florida headlines has all the right elements for true-crime writer Marie Lightfoot's next bestseller. A charming minister's love affair with a beautiful, wealthy new church member ends in the murder of his wife. The accused now sits on death row, while his lover walks free. Justice appears to have been served, but Marie senses there is more to the story. From the day two little girls found the dead woman in an abandoned mansion to an unexpected visitor's shattering confession, the case's disturbing twists teach Marie a bone-chilling lesson: underestimating the criminal mind can be deadly. Award-winning author Nancy Pickard has created a wonderfully unique and intriguing character in the "gutsy and charismatic" (The Fresno Bee) Marie Lightfoot, a woman with a shadowy past and a passion for the truth.
Download Description
From the award-winning author of "The Whole Truth" comes a chilling new story featuring her gutsy heroine, Marie Lightfoot. This time Lightfoot can't make the pieces of a Florida murder--involving a priest and his lover--fit together. And the missing piece could be fatal.
Ring of Truth FROM THE PUBLISHER
Sex, violence, evil, and betrayal—the shocking murder case splashed across the Florida headlines has all the right elements for true-crime writer Marie Lightfoot's next bestseller. And tell the tale she does, in a book that lays bare every detail of a love affair gone fatally wrong. But there are disturbing twists, which leave Marie sensing in her gut that something does not jibe.
Twist number one: the accused is a man of the cloth, who has allegedly killed his wife in collusion with his lover. Twist number two: a pair of young girls find the body in an abandoned mansion, adding the death of innocence to the magnitude of the crime. Twist number three: a shattering conviction turns the case on its ear. And the ultimate blow: for the first time in her career, Marie fails to win the killer's confidence during a jailhouse interview. Suddenly, she knows with certainty there is more to the story than even she realized—and her conscience won't let her rest.
Then an unexpected visitor—a shock in itself for the reclusive writer—confesses something that not even the policeknow. The revelation may be the missing piece in a terrifying puzle—evidence that teaches Marie a bone-chilling lesson even as threatening danger slowly encircles her: to err is human, but underestimating the criminal mind can be deadly.
FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Reviews
Something's not right with the latest manuscript that true-crime writer Marie Lightfoot (The Whole Truth, 2000) has just sent off to her publisher. The story is straightforward enough: Robert Wing, charismatic leader of the White Sands Gospel Church, is found guilty of the murder of his wife Susanna, while his alleged partner in crime Artemis MacGregor wins an acquittal. There's the requisite erotic edge to the tale: Wing and MacGregor were allegedly lovers. There's even a hint of irony, since Wing is an ardent crusader against the death penalty, and his conviction derails his campaign to save death row inmate Steve Orbach, landing the minister in the cell next to Orbach's. So what's the problem? Marie's editor, Charlotte Amstell, thinks the book may spend too much energy on the murder ten years ago of pretty Allison Tobias, who was found beaten and smothered the morning after her first night in her first apartment-an apartment upstairs from the one Orbach rented after his release from prison for killing his mother. But Marie's new assistant Deborah Dancer thinks that Marie should look even harder into the Tobias murder. So Marie looks again at Wing, at the detective who investigated the case, at the crumbling mansion where the body was found-but, most of all, at two items brought to her by the little girls who discovered Susanna Wing's body: a canvas bag filled with toiletries and a diamond ring. Like Agatha Christie in her prime, Pickard uses her characters' relationships to craft a puzzle that's a joy to solve.
Art & Photography
Book Info
