Category: Mystery
Publisher: Mysterious Press
ISBN-13:9780892960255
Series: Annie Seymour, #2
Pub. Date: September 2006
Date Read: September 2008
"I moved to the window and stared. The flames danced between skeletal limbs of the trees. In my half-sleep state, it was hypnotizing. Until the first siren pierced the air. Shit, I'd go deaf if I stood here. When I moved, my reflection caught my eye - I was naked, standing at my window with the lights on. The clock on the wall read 6:00 a.m. The last time I was awoken at such an ungodly hour, I'd had a dead girl to deal with."
It's Thanksgiving day, there's a snowstorm and Annie Seymour, crime reporter for the New Haven Hearld, realizes that the flames she saw from her apartment belonged to the fire which destroyed a favorite local eatery, Prego. More surprising still will be when a dead body is pulled out of the rubble.
With all the hubbub of firefighters, family members, police officers and whatnot on the scene, everyone assumes that the body is that of Prego owner, Sal Amato. After the FBI makes a quick study of the damage and the body they learn that it's not Sal Amato who died but a woman.
LeeAnn Haywood, the hostess at Prego, didn't just die in the fire though, she had been shot. Who would mess with the niece of Dominic Guadio and why? And, where is Sal then?
Annie has to tread lightly on this story so as not to offend Sal's wife, Mac, and family but after she sees Sal she knows something very shady must be happening. Is the mafia involved and what's with all the talk about chickens?
Vinny DeLuca, the handsome P.I., Annie has some unfinished business with also makes an appearance in this second entry as Sal's wife has hired him to look for Sal. Now if only Annie can keep her mind on the case and not Vinny, who is still engaged mind you.
Annie is just as witty and brash as she was in the first entry of the series. She still has to deal with her annoying co-worker, Dick Whitfield, but she'll have some great support from her friend, Paula, who works for the FBI, and this time around even Annie's father gets in on the mystery.
While I enjoyed the fist book in the series, Sacred Cows, a lot, I think this one makes for a stronger entry. What I enjoyed most was that Annie's character has to face some truths and deal with some issues that were brought up in the first book. Annie muses about her feelings for her career when she compares herself to her co-worker, she questions her family's integrity, and she even has to come to terms with her previous relationship. I'm can't wait to see where the next installment in the series takes us.