The Illusion of Secondhand Smoke — Janice M. Van Dyck

A hidden past has the power to consume you slowly, or to destroy you all at once when it catches you. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll turn deadly in 1977 when a popular teenager, Tee DeLuca, is murdered because he's rumored to be gay. A varsity football player is sent to prison. More than twenty years later, Tee's sister, Maria, is a self-destructive motivational speaker struggling to be a better person. Mike Costello, her estranged husband, is a dying con artist with a lifetime of carefully spun secrets. He summons her and a few high school friends to his bedside, and together they finally uncover the missing pieces of the night Tee died. No one is innocent, and Maria's life implodes. When the smoke settles, she's face to face with her hidden past. Set in Levittown, America's original master-planned community, The Illusion of Secondhand Smoke explores loyalty, love, and the mistakes that define us.