DEAD FOR THE WINTER

N.Y.: Saint Martin's Press / Thomas Dunne Books, 2004. 1st Edition, November 2004, with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, with protective mylar cover. Publishers sheet laid in. At the start of Thornton's fourth intricate puzzle to feature Chloe Newcombe, the Cochise County, Arizona victim's advocate is assigned to assist artist Heather Stephens after Heather's husband, carpenter Terry Barnett, is found dead in his burning barn. The problem is, Chloe hired Terry to make a bookcase for her and in the process was attracted to him. During dinner across the border in Mexico, Terry told her he was married, and she refused to see him again. Chloe's concern for Heather, when it becomes clear that Terry was shot first, drives her to try to unravel some highly tangled relationships in search of the killer. Did his wife tire of his infidelities? Was there a dissatisfied client? What of his estranged brother in Ohio? Terry went back there for a time to care for his dying mother and contacted a childhood friend. Herself a victim's advocate, Thornton writes what she knows. She takes great care in describing this community whose members are bound together in spite of their need for independence..." --PW. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.