Book Review: The Finishing School

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

The Finishing School     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Michele Martinez
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance   Thriller   FBI   Woman Main Character
Series: Melanie Vargas # 2
William Morrow, Harper-Collins Publishers, 2006, 387 pps.

Melanie Vargas is in the middle of a divorce and has a one-year old baby to care for but when Bernadette DeFelice, chief of the Major Crimes Unit of the New York City U. S. Attorney’s office, and Melanie’s boss summons Melanie to a murder scene she has to respond.

The picture isn’t pretty when she arrives. Two young girls appear to have died from an overdose and another girl is missing.

All three girls attend Miss Holbroke’s School, commonly known as Holbroke. The missing girl is the daughter of the janitor in the building and it is suspected at first that she provided the drugs but Melanie doesn’t believe that is true and promises to find Carmen and see that she gets back home to her father and sister.

There are just too many unanswered questions to be sure that an accidental drug overdose caused the young girls deaths.

Melanie is teamed with Dan O’Reilly, an FBI Agent that she has a deep attraction for and it seems the feeling is mutual. As the investigation proceeds Melanie becomes suspicious of some of the happenings at Holbroke.

The suspense builds as Melanie and O’Reilly go undercover to find the answer to who provided the drugs, what is really going on at the school and what has happened to Carmen.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM