Clark's clever use of a bit of New Jersey real estate code fits perfectly into her usual formula for minting bestsellers in a novel about past deadly secrets coming to haunt the present. At One Old Mill Lane, in Mendham, N.J., 10-year-old Liza Barton wakes to find her stepfather, Ted Cartwright, attacking her mother, Audrey. Liza grabs a gun in defense, but in the ensuing melee Audrey is killed and Ted is wounded. Dubbed "Little Lizzie Borden," Liza is taken away and almost convicted of murdering her mother and attempting to kill the lying, scheming Ted.
Who killed Marius Steen, the theatrical tycoon with a fortune to leave his young mistress Jacqui? And who killed Bill Sweet, the shady blackmailer with a supply of compromising photographs? Charles Paris, a middle-aged actor who keeps going on booze and women, takes to detection in Cast, In Order of Disappearance, by assuming a variety of roles,
When forensic pathologist Lucy Trask stumbles across a mutilated body by the chess tables in her local Baltimore park, its face so badly damaged it is unrecognisable, her sole concern is that it might be her old school teacher Mr Pugh. When the corpse is identified, Lucy is shocked to discover that the victim is actually another man from her past. Who killed him and why his skin is burnt with the number '1' is unclear but it’s evident that someone is demanding Lucy’s attention.
Jennifer Witt was abused by her husband, so who could blame her if she struck back? But when her husband is shot dead, she refuses to admit she killed him. Her lawyer believes her, especially since her adored son was also killed, but soon he begins to wonder if his judgement has let him down.
Two murder victims have been discovered in the boots of their cars. The first was would-be actor, Richard Dada; the second Dr Claire Argent, a psychiatrist at a maximum security hospital. Milo Sturgis tends to think there will be plenty of suspects amongst her clientele, but as his friend Alex Delaware remarks, none of his patients ever killed anyone and as they investigate the backgrounds of both victims it appears that Milo needs to look elsewhere, because neither of them are who they made themselves out to be.
