From Cradle to Grave

November 9, 2009
Mary Higgins Clark fans who aren’t too finicky about legal detail will welcome this domestic suspense novel from MacDonald (Stolen in the Night
). When Brooklyn grad student Morgan Adair, who’s agreed to be godmother to the infant son of her best friend, Claire Bolton, attends the baptism in West Briar, Long Island, it’s clear that the stresses of motherhood have overwhelmed Claire. A few days later, Claire phones Morgan at the airport, where Morgan’s about to depart for England to do research on feminist Harriet Martineau (and pursue romance with an English poet), to say she’s killed her son and husband. Despite this confession, which Claire also made to the police, the skeptical Morgan launches her own investigation. Less than realistic law references (e.g., an academic expert on involuntary admissions of guilt states, “Believe me, all investigating ceases when a suspect confesses. It’s generally agreed that the police don’t need anything more”) may give some readers pause.

Starred review from November 1, 2009
Morgan Adair is thrilled when her best friend, Claire, asks her to be godmother to Claire and her husband Guys new baby. As soon as the christening on Long Island Sound is over, Morgan intends to take off for Englands Lake District to meet her newfound love and work on her doctoral thesis. But when Morgan arrives at the church, she realizes that Claire is in the grip of a terrible postpartum depression, and the vivacious friend she once knew is now fearful, miserable, and teary. Still, the christening goes well enough, and Morgan, somewhat guiltily, heads for London. But at the airport, she receives a shocking telephone call from Claire, who announces she has been arrested for the murder of her husband and child. Horrified, Morgan knows she must cancel her trip and stay to help her friend, who is the last person in the world she would have believed could carry out such a terrible crime. The evidence against Claire is damning and incontrovertible, and only the ever-loyal Morgan thinks there might be more to the story, but when she begins to try to unravel the mystery, she stumbles on a dark and terrible secret. Taut and gripping, with mind-bending twists and turns, this chilling page-turner from the best-selling MacDonald will delight fans of psychological thrillers, romantic suspense, and womens fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)