title: The House on Sprucewood Lane
author:  Caroline Slate 
description: Ripped from yesterday's headlines, the plot of this assured first novel concerns a compelling and beautiful child of 10 who is murdered in a "locked-room" mystery set in Westport, Conn. Calista McQuade is a star from the beginning, adored and pushed by her strong but driven mother, Melanie; loved from a distance by her damaged journalist father, Tom; and both loved and hated by her older brother, Jared. After the murder, at Jared's request, Melanie's sister, Alexis, is reconciled with the family after a rupture caused by her affair with Tom. But can the troubled and bulimic Lex even help herself? And whom can she trust? Suspicion centers on the family and 12-year-old Jared in particular. Lex employs her considerable detective skills as a documentary filmmaker to discover anything that might help her nephew. There are other possibilities: the McQuades' wealthy friend Courtney and Courtney's husband, Calista's coach, Vin; their maid, Tonya. But the police are looking no further than the family, and Lex knows Jared's time is running out. The lurid subject is ripe for exploitation, but Slate handles it deftly, rounding her characters so that the reader can hear their ragged breathing. While the plot has a few more twists than may be good for it, the narrative is cohesive and suspenseful throughout, establishing Slade as a promising writer in the psychological suspense genre. Agent, Loretta Barrett. <br />Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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  The House at Silvermoor
  
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  Also By
  
  Also by Tracy Rees
  
  Amy Snow
  
  Florence Grace
  
  The Hourglass
  
  The Love Note (originally published as Darling Blue)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Title
  
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  Copyright
  
  This ebook edition first published in 2020 by
  
  Quercus Editions Ltd
  
  Carmelite House
  
  50 Victoria Embankment
  
  London EC4Y 0DZ
  
  An Hachette UK company
  
  Copyright © 2020 Tracy Rees
  
  The moral right of Tracy Rees to be
  
  identified as the author of this work has been
  
  asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
  
  Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication
  
  may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
  
  or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
  
  including photocopy, recording, or any
  
  information storage and retrieval system,
  
  without permission in writing from the publisher.
  
  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
  
  from the British Library
  
  Hardback ISBN 978 1 78648 671 4
  
  EBOOK ISBN 978 1 78648 