"A remarkably accomplished debut mystery, with sensitive character development and a heart-stopping denouement." -
Booklist, starred review
Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton-black and from the wrong side of the tracks-was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he's maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution is only weeks away when his sister insists she spied Sarah at an area gas station. Willing to try anything, she hires PI Roxane Weary to look into the case.
Brad might be in a bad way, but private investigator Roxane Weary isn't doing so hot herself. Still reeling from the recent death of her cop father in the line of duty, her main way of dealing with her grief has been working as little and drinking as much as possible. But Roxane finds herself drawn in to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she links the disappearance to one of her father's unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl.
The stakes get higher as Roxane discovers that the two girls may not be the only beautiful blonde teenagers who've turned up missing or dead. As her investigation gets darker and darker, Roxane will have to risk everything to find the truth.
"Lepionka has created an appealing, relatable lead." -
Publishers Weekly
"Confidently portrays complex characters with multiple, sometimes contradictory, motivations." -
Kirkus Reviews
Booklist, starred review
Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton-black and from the wrong side of the tracks-was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he's maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution is only weeks away when his sister insists she spied Sarah at an area gas station. Willing to try anything, she hires PI Roxane Weary to look into the case.
Brad might be in a bad way, but private investigator Roxane Weary isn't doing so hot herself. Still reeling from the recent death of her cop father in the line of duty, her main way of dealing with her grief has been working as little and drinking as much as possible. But Roxane finds herself drawn in to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she links the disappearance to one of her father's unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl.
The stakes get higher as Roxane discovers that the two girls may not be the only beautiful blonde teenagers who've turned up missing or dead. As her investigation gets darker and darker, Roxane will have to risk everything to find the truth.
"Lepionka has created an appealing, relatable lead." -
Publishers Weekly
"Confidently portrays complex characters with multiple, sometimes contradictory, motivations." -
Kirkus Reviews
eBook epub
Once You Go This Far
is the fourth thrilling mystery from Shamus Award-winning and Anthony and Macavity Award-nominated author Kristen Lepionka.
Junior-high school nurse Rebecca Newsome was an experienced hiker-until she plummeted to her death at the bottom of a ravine in a Columbus metro park. Her daughter, Maggie, doesn't believe it was an accident, and Rebecca's ex-husband is her prime suspect. But he's a well-connected ex-cop and Maggie is certain that's the reason no one will listen to her. PI Roxane Weary quickly uncovers that the dead woman's ex is definitely a jerk, but is he a murderer?
As she pieces together the days before Rebecca died, what Roxane finds doesn't quite add up. From a series of trips to Detroit and across the border to a casino in Windsor, Canada, to strange calls from Rebecca's home to a charismatic political candidate, to a women's health organization, to a secretive church group that seems to have more information about its members than it should, Roxane needs to figure out how everything is connected before a dangerous secret gets someone else killed.