The In-Laws

by G X Chen

Overview

An elderly woman dies at the bottom of a stairway, and Betty is accused as her killer. Convinced that his sister isn't capable of such a crime, psychiatrist Seth enlists his friend Ann Lee, an amateur detective, and her partner to help clear her name.

Never in their decadelong career have Ann and Fang Chen had to defend a client who already has airtight evidence and an eyewitness against her. As they try to separate the assumptions from the truth, every lead appears to be a dead end, and Betty Foreman seems to be guilty as accused. As the trial day looms, they are under tremendous pressure to prove their mettle and save an innocent friend.

When the curtain finally comes down, however, nothing is what it seems, and the one who wins the battle could lose the war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781718630697
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	05/20/2018
Series:	Back Bay Investigation , #5
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

G.X. Chen, author of the Back Bay Investigation mystery series and other novels, is a freelance writer and a graduate of Fudan University and University of New Mexico. She has taught literature at Fudan as well as the Shanghai Foreign Language Institute. A world traveler and an amateur photographer, she lives in the beautiful city of Boston with husband, Steve.

Editorial Reviews

2018-06-11
In Chen's (An Intangible Affair, 2017, etc.) latest series installment, Bostonian amateur detective and biologist Ann Lee sets out to prove the innocence of a friend accused of murder.Ann knows that potential in-laws can be burdensome; after all, her former boyfriend's stepmother turned out to be a killer in a previous book in this series. So she understands when her friend Betty Foremanis stressed by her fiance Peter Shi's mom, Emily. Betty thinks that the overprotective parent has made her son a "mama's boy"; indeed, Peter takes his mother's side whenever she and Betty have an argument. It's not surprising that Betty is a suspect after Emily's body is discovered at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The dying woman's 911 call, in which she named Betty as her murderer, only solidifies the police's case. But Ann believes Betty's claim of innocence; she says that she argued with Emily on the day in question but left when the old woman threw a vase at her. With Betty's trial imminent, Ann decides to try to debunk the damning evidence against her. Luckily, she has help from her best friend and partner at their detective agency, Fang Chen, who's a chemist as well. The investigation involves interviewing Emily's neighbor, who called 911 regarding the women's loud squabble, and talking to Emily's sister in Hong Kong. As in preceding novels in this series, Chen delivers a brisk story with a simple but tight mystery that's often heavy on dialogue. Along the way, the author has Ann meticulously develop a theory to fit the evidence—that is, one in which Betty isn't guilty of murder. Romantic relationships also complicate matters, as Ann is currently dating Betty's older brother, Seth Foreman. Ann's investigation, along with Fang Chen's input, has an organic feel: Every conjecture has a clear source, and nothing that she deduces feels like a wild guess. Still, the ending, while plausible, gets a bit convoluted as Ann juggles multiple theories of the crime.Another tale of incisive sleuths that's short but thoroughly enjoyable.

Kirkus Reviews