I love and recommend this series - and this may well be the best of the bunch I've read so far. The star of the show, New York TV News Director Clare Carlson, really shines as her investigative reporter skills kick into high gear.
She's asked by an attorney friend to give some air time to the story of Vietnamese supermodel and relatively low-level actress Laurie Bateman, who is divorcing her filthy rich husband Charles Hollister. But just as Clare's about to make that happen, Laurie's story veers off in another direction: Hollister is found brutally murdered, and his still-wife has been arrested as his killer. Apparently, she was at the scene of the crime and had somewhere around a billion reasons to do him in. But when Clare does a jailhouse interview in which Laurie plays the wronged woman card to the max, the dial on Clare's suspicion meter starts jumping. Ignoring conventional wisdom (police-style), she takes on the job of getting to the truth.
Mind you, as a former newspaper journalist I can't totally condone Clare's methods for trying to prove wrong is right or right is wrong (nor, on a personal level, her choices in men that pretty much are limited to anyone who's good-looking and not currently married). But hey, those characteristics absolutely make for a more intriguing story with plenty of action; and not insignificantly Clare's slightly left of center sense of humor makes the whole thing more fun. Her digging early on not only reveals that the dead guy had plenty of enemies, but also a hint that he may well have been involved in some very shady activities.
It is Clare's investigation and dedication to leaving no stone unturned, of course, that makes for a great story - one with several twists and turns (some surprising, some not so much) that kept me glued to the pages (well okay, to my Kindle). Already, I'm chomping at the bit for the next installment - this is the fourth, by the way. Also for the record, while I always recommend starting any series at the beginning, this one stands on its own quite well. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review it.
Beyond the Headlines by R.G. Belsky (Oceanview Publishing, May 2021); 287 pp.
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