Just Jennifer

Justice for Sara by Erica Spindler (St. Martin’s Press, August 2013)

Ten years ago, Kat McCall, then seventeen, was acquitted by a jury of her peers in the murder of her sister Sara, but not their friends and neighbors in the small town of Liberty, Louisiana.  Kat has returned to Liberty, haunted by her sister’s murder, still unsolved, hoping to get some answers; she is not expecting the town to roll out the red carpet for her, but she is met with more hostility than she expected.  Detective Luke Tanner, acting chief of police and son of man who was chief of police ten years ago believes Kat and agrees to reopen her sister’s case and that of the Liberty police officer who was killed the same night as Sara and whose murder has still never been solved.  While the people in Liberty don’t forget, they also protect their own and Kat is no longer one of them.  Kat, haunted by the past, becomes the target of some vicious pranks; a softball bat (the murder weapon) left on a bed, tied with a red ribbon, a keyed car and a letter with the message “What about justice for Sara?” As Kat searches for answers, she comes to learn more about her sister and about herself, is able to heal and solves a ten-year-old mystery as she forces a town to take a look at itself and how it cares for its own.  Taut plotting keeps the suspense high as Kat faces her worst fear:  maybe something she did contributed to her sister’s death.