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LIAR'S KEY
by Carla Neggers
MIRA, August 2016
368 pages
$26.99
ISBN: 0778319113


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

For those already invested in the Sharpe and Donovan series, this book is likely to be a happy addition to their already developed story. For those just coming to the series, however, this mystery is likely to be a disappointment. There's plenty of suspicion and investigation to go around, but the hunt for the criminals never really goes anywhere, until the last few pages when the case is solved so suddenly, it'll leave readers' heads spinning.

There are mysterious attacks, parties held by unsavory art thieves, and a whole lot of scrambling among sites in Ireland, England, and the US (in particular, Massachusetts and Maine). There are mysterious deaths, unsavory suggestions, and family gatherings. There are whiskey distillery tours and Celtic crosses and upscale parties, but none of it brings the reader any closer to the answers of whodunit and why.

There are plenty of background characters (priests and nuns, antiquity dealers and art thieves, FBI agents, MI5, and private eyes), each with their own side stories. The thing is, none of this really adds to the impending mystery here. Nor are the thefts and sale of ancient mosaics really discussed in any depth whatsoever, despite their importance to the central mystery of this novel.

Perhaps for those already invested in the lives and struggles of FBI Agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, the examination of their backgrounds and the people who populate their lives, past and present, is enough. For the rest of us looking for a real case to be solved, this book is likely to be a serious letdown. The lack of clues and the taped-on ending miss the mark, although the wedding goes off

without a hitch.

§ Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.

Reviewed by Christine Zibas, August 2016

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