Lethal Play — Loretta Giacoletto

Newly widowed Francesca Canelli is not your typical soccer mom but she would do anything to help her 15-year-old son, Matt, a passionate soccer player determined to honor his dad's memory. Financially strapped and emotionally devastated, Francesca accepts a sexual proposition from the coach of Pegasi United who promised to secure Matt a starting position on his premier St. Louis team. Their bargain quickly sours when the coach abuses Francesca, demeans Matt, and threatens to renege on the deal. The coach with more enemies than friends soon winds up dead, his battered and naked body hanging from the crossbar of a soccer goalpost. In the ensuing investigation Francesca becomes the prime suspect. Now she's playing games with a team of hard-nosed detectives, her vulnerability fading as she fights to keep not only herself out of jail but Matt too. Then Francesca discovers she's not the only person who really knows what happened that night the coach died. She has no choice but to strike a new bargain; but will this one resolve her growing problems?