You Don't Own Me

“Don't tell me what to do And don't tell me what to say Please, when I go out with you Don't put me on display…” Grace

This is the fifth novel featuring Laurie Moran, who works for a reality TV show, Under Suspicion, investigating cases that have gone cool, not exactly cold. She is contacted by Dr. Robert and Cynthia Bell. The Bells’ son, Martin, had been shot in his driveway in Manhattan. Martin’s wife, Kendra, had become a suspect, but she was not charged. She and Martin had two children, and the grandchildren were uppermost in the senior Bell’s minds. This had been the second time Laurie was asked to look into Martin’s murder, and she was not anxious to become embroiled in the couple’s vendetta against their daughter-in-law. But, she reconsidered.

Laurie Moran, had become engaged to her show’s former host, Alex, since our last encounter with her. They were planning a summer wedding, and waiting for Alex’s confirmation to a federal judicial appointment. This new case would take time away from the planning, but Alex was understanding.

In the process of the investigation, Laurie discovers Martin wasn’t a perfect person, and his personal life was full of secrets of his own. Everyone has secrets, but some are more deplorable than others. Kendra Bell had taken the brunt of a bad marriage, and, now the brunt of all the accusations as the person most likely to have killed Martin. We follow along, as Laurie uncovers clues, finds her own safety at risk, and she and Alex are placed in jeopardy. Expect the unexpected.

This is a very satisfying mystery from the authors, Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. They have provided Laurie Moran, the protagonist, with a winning personality, and I found I was entranced with her professional and personal life.

Recommended. prisrob 11-06-18

When we last saw Laurie Moran, she had recently become engaged to her show’s former host, Alex Buckley. Since then, the two have been happily planning a summer wedding and honeymoon, preparing for Alex’s confirmation to a federal judicial appointment, and searching for the perfect New York City home for their new life together.

But then Laurie is approached by Robert and Cynthia Bell, parents of Dr. Martin Bell, a famously charming and talented physician who was shot dead as he pulled into the driveway of his Greenwich Village carriage house five years ago. The Bells are sure that Martin’s disgraced and erratic wife, Kendra, carried out the murder. Determined to prove Kendra’s guilt and win custody over their grandchildren, they plead with Laurie to feature their son’s case on “Under Suspicion,” ensuring her that Kendra is willing to cooperate.

Kendra has lived under a blanket of suspicion since Martin’s death, with the tabloid media depicting her as a secretive, mentally unstable gold-digger. Laurie’s show is a chance for her to clear her name. But unbeknownst to the Bells, Kendra has already refused once before to go forward with a re-investigation of her husband’s murder, and her statements to the contrary only add to the appearance of guilt.

But once Laurie dives into the case, she learns that Martin wasn’t the picture-perfect husband, father, and doctor he appeared to be and was carrying secrets of his own. And what does the web of lies ensnaring the Bell family have to do with a dangerous stranger, who gazes at Laurie from afar and thinks, She is actually quite a lovely girl, I’m sure she’s going to be missed…?

My Thoughts: As Laurie Moran plans the next production of her TV show Under Suspicion, we are swept up amidst a cast of characters that will eventually help us decide the truth of a murder.

Just as we suspect, the facts begin to line up in one direction, and then suddenly veer off along a completely different path. Who is the man following Laurie, plotting her demise? What is going on between Kendra and a man she once met in a dive bar called the Beehive? Why is she taking bundles of cash from her ATM to hand over to him? Is she paying off a hit man, or is he up to something else?

It didn’t take long to figure out that the two strangers have nefarious connections to the case, but what are those connections? By the end, we are stunned to learn that the least likely person was behind most of what had happened.

My favorite parts of You Don’t Own Me were the occasional glimpses into the relationship between Alex and Laurie, and their quest for the perfect new post-wedding residence. Happily, they get to plan their new home once the case has been solved. A 5 star read. (FIRST BOOK OF THE YEAR – 2019)

I liked the surprise ending of the book and further continuance of the Laurie-Alex saga. The criticism that I have is someone should hsve proofread this story a bit better. For instance, suddenly in this book Alex was 21 (correct) when his parents were killed but his brother Andrew was 19 when in earlier books he was 17. Then, Kendra was portrayed in a prior novel as having travelled to NYC and was treated to a fabulous stay when she met with Laurie to "sign paperwork" which she cockily refused to do because her lawyers had told her that she might lose custody of her children, giving the reader the impression she was indeed her husband's murderer and she only came to NYC for what she could get and Laurie was well rid of her. In this novel, she is pictured as a totally different person. A better person who is finally getting her life together except for 1 thing!! Of course, there were some typos but I don't usally mind those as long as there aren't too many. I only gave it 4 stars because of the poor continuity.

As a guide, to me, three stars means "good, I liked it." More, if you're a fan of romantic suspense novels, Mary Higgins Clark's lifelong specialty, you'll probably enjoy this, too. I've read a number of her books, though not recently. She's taken on co-writers now, and except for the odd passage or so, where I felt the editorial hand a bit heavy on the page, this novel did not disappoint. But why not four or five stars? Please don't take their absence as a condemnation of this or any other genre. It's mostly my sense of a lack of consistent pacing, or rather sluggish pacing here and there. Unwanted (by me) details of domestic and emotional life, an overabundance of "backstory" and flashbacks. Yet these features go along with what's now called "the domestic thriller." Emphasis on domestic and office life, not sexy romance, in this novel. Fine by me. The protagonist of this series (I haven't read any others in it) is a young-middle-aged producer of a true crime TV show. Nice update from the old gumshoe detectives. In fact, we have the usual contemporary gadgets in play--the cell phone, the messaging, the apps, etc. Author doesn't assume we readers know how to handle all that tech stuff, so we get step-by-step instructions, in a sense. That's what I mean by unnecessary detail. Makes the entire novel seem a lot more musty than it actually is, imho. The plot? There is one! It's well worked-out and surprising enough to merit a satisfied reader's nod. Yup, all makes sense, I sort of figured it out early on, then a twist and I figured nah, another twist--love this for its sensible yet surprising twists. Great beach reading--or anywhere else, for that matter. Okay, I just gave it a fourth star.