A Private Inquiry — Jessica Mann

An anonymous telephone threat endangers more than the professional integrity of arbitrator Barbara Pomeroy in this tautly woven, intricately plotted mystery novel. It also imperils her young son, Toby -- unless Barbara rules in the caller's favor. Nor is Barbara comfortable with the situation at her St. Ives home, where her retired husband, Colin, and Toby have befriended a holiday lodger who goes by the fanciful name of Clarissa Trelawny. In Barbara's frequent absences demanded by her job, the deceptively charming Clarissa has become a kind of surrogate mother to Toby. When Clarissa Trelawny's body is found beaten brutally to death, even Barbara is doubting the certainty of her own innocence. Deftly interweaving the narrative strands of Barbara's disturbing trials both in her career and at home into a fabric of suspense, Jessica Mann's fifteenth novel explores its heroine's growing apprehensions and very mixed emotions.