Ultimate Doom — Dorothy P. O'Neill

FAMILY SECRETS

When a Manhattan real-estate mogul is found bludgeoned to death in his study, evidence points to those near and dear. His wife loathed and feared him, his daughter hated him and his perfect son is anything but. Coroner's assistant Liz Rooney tags along to the scene of the crime with her homicide detective friend, and she's drawn into a family drama that puts her life in peril.

The murder weapon is missing, but police suspect it to be one half of a pair of valuable winged-dragon bookends. Liz has a couple of suspicions, but chasing them lands her in big trouble -- namely the back of a car driven by hired hit men. She figures if she can survive that, she can live through anything. And she puts that theory to the test as she continues to pursue a mystery that gets more convoluted and treacherous by the moment.