Innocence

"The dark corners of the human soul are Karen Novak's specialty, and there are few writing today who able to illuminate them with such courage and elegance." -Karen Karbo



When private investigator Leslie Stone's own thirteen-year-old daughter, Molly, attempts to hire her to find a vanished friend, the case stirs memories of one from Leslie's own troubled childhood: a series of abductions of girls who became known as the Nightingales. Five eighth-grade boys are being charged with assaulting Molly's friend. But even as their small town erupts in anger and calls for justice, Molly insists that the boys are innocent, and takes the stand to testify on their behalf.

Leslie's investigations show that although Molly may be right, someone is guilty. As the case draws her own secret knowledge of the Nightingales' history toward the light, she is left uncertain of every instinct except the one that demands she protect her child- even if she has to betray her own childhood by telling everything.



"A smart, realistic tale of female identity and deception." -Time Out New York

"This will surely be touted as a suspense novel, and suspenseful it is. But this elegantly written and intricately plotted work transcends genre... This frightening and mesmerizing book deserves a wide readership." -Library Journal

"A tantalizing page-turner." -Cincinnati CityBeat