Just Jennifer

Once Upon a Lie by Maggie Barbieri (Minotaur, December 2013)

Barbieri, known for her cozier novels featuring St. Thomas College professor Alison Bergeron, has written a very different, darker novel, featuring Maeve Conlon, a very tired divorced mother of two who owns a bakery and who keeps secrets from her past close and will stop at nothing to protect those she loves.  Even being from a close Irish family, Maeve can’t shed any tears when her cousin Sean is found murdered.  Her father Jack, who is showing signs of dementia, is also not saddened when he hears of the death of his nephew, and what’s more, he cannot provide an alibi for himself for the night of Sean’s death.  As Maeve slowly confronts the demons of her past, she is relentless in the defense of her father, but as she delves deeper into Sean’s murder she has to face things she is not ready to face, leading to the biggest surprise of all.  While it’s never clear why the police focus on Jack as the murder suspect, it doesn’t detract from the suspense and drama as Maeve works to clear her father’s name and hold what is left of her family together while all the while, keeping her sanity; trying to find peace of mind and a truth she can live with when she learns the truth she has been living with all these years was a lie which set into motion events that can never be undone.