Yesterday's News by R.G. Belsky / Review by Sharon Marchisello
2019 Silver Falchion Candidate
BOOK OF THE DAY
The manuscript that became Yesterday's News (Oceanview Publishing) was the 2016 winner of Killer Nashville's Claymore Award. It is the first in a new series by R.G. Belsky featuring Clare Carlson, the driven, middle-aged news director for Channel 10.
Clare's career catapulted to stardom when, as a young newspaper reporter, she broke a story about the disappearance of eleven-year-old Lucy Devlin, a poster child who vanished on her way to school one day. Clare's heart-wrenching coverage of the family's tragedy captivated New Yorkers and won her a Pulitzer Prize.
Now, fifteen years later, with the mystery of Lucy's fate still unsolved, Anne Devlin, the grieving mother, thinks she has a new lead about the case, and she requests Clare's help to bring the story back to the front burner. Clare agrees.
Anne has received a puzzling email describing a girl who looked a lot like Lucy on the back of a motorcycle at a biker's convention in New Hampshire around the time of her disappearance. Clare learns that Patrick Devlin, Lucy's father (now estranged from Anne), once had ties with a motorcycle gang that attended the gathering. Claire also learns the bodies of six missing children were unearthed near that location a few years later when ground was broken for a shopping center.
The law enforcement official who supervised the investigation of the children's murders and identified the victims was Elliott Grayson, whose career took off after that event. He is now running for the U.S. Senate and both he and his opponent are willing to do almost anything to win. When Clare interviews Elliott about the case, he dodges her questions and romantic sparks fly.
The more Clare digs, the more lies she uncovers, and the more suspicions gnaw at her. No one is who they seem. And then the reader finds out Clare has a much closer connection to the Lucy Devlin case than she has ever revealed.
R.G. Belsky has an extensive journalism background, and his experience is evident in this fast-paced crime novel. Most recently, he was Managing Editor at NBC News. He resides in New York City and is the author of the award-winning Gil Malloy mystery series, including Blonde Ice, The Kennedy Connection, and Shooting for the Stars.
Sharon Marchisello (sharonmarchisello.com) is the author of Going Home, (Sunbury Press, 2014) a murder mystery inspired by her mother's battle with Alzheimer's. She earned a Masters in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She lives in Peachtree City, GA, with her husband and cat, does volunteer work for the Fayette Humane Society, and writes a blog about personal finance, Countdown to Financial Fitness https://sharonmarchisello.blogspot.com/.ns.