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Protagonist Confronts Past In Latest Mystery

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By K. SUE COLLINS

Published: December 23, 2007

"The Deadly Neighbors," by Merry Jones (St. Martin's Minotaur, $25)

Merry Jones can best be described as the Mary Higgins Clark for this millennium. Her new Zoe Hayes novel, "The Deadly Neighbors," possesses all the ingredients to keep mystery readers enthralled: a pregnant protagonist, a long buried secret and, of course, dead bodies.

On a visit to her childhood home, Zoe finds her estranged father standing over a dead woman with a knife in his hand. The neighborhood watch seems overly interested in her father. Conflicted at first, Zoe is forced to re-examine their relationship. She had not seen her father in years and relies on her own memories. Zoe refuses to discuss the reason for her bitterness with her father.

Her fiance, Detective Nick Stiles, wants her to confront her past. Her defiance in re-examining her youth may have an impact upon the life of her unborn child. As the death count piles up, Zoe finds she is thrown deeper into her father's life and must contend with her family's secrets.

"The Deadly Neighbors" is the third book by Jones to feature Zoe. Jones does a good job of recapping the previous exploits of these characters without sacrificing the novel's pacing. A reader new to the series will have no trouble adjusting.

"The Deadly Neighbors" should delight readers who miss the tried and true mystery-thrillers popularized by Clark's early books.

K. Sue Collins of Tampa is a crime novelist.

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