Book Description

No one knows you like family. That’s what makes them dangerous . . . “One of the most engaging, complex characters in mystery fiction today” (Harlan Coben). Miranda “Munch” Mancini is finally feeling confident in the life she’s carved out for herself and her adopted daughter, Asia. With a good job as an auto mechanic, a house, and a dog, the pair are doing just fine. Until Asia’s aunt and two cousins suddenly reappear, on the run from the Witness Protection Program and in need of Munch’s help. When young cousin Charlotte goes missing after the death of a school friend, Munch turns to her sometime boyfriend and full-time cop, Rico Chacon, for help unraveling Charlotte’s complicated life, before it’s too late to save her from becoming one of Hollywood’s lost street kids . . . or worse. “Munch Mancini, the struggling heroine of this series, is so powerfully depicted, with such exquisitely telling detail, that she seems drawn directly from life. . . . Seranella does not cheapen her mysteries by giving her main character remarkable powers of detection; Munch is an intelligent yet ordinary woman forced to use every contact and every ounce of intelligence she has to figure out what’s going on . . . Beautifully written and harrowing.” —Booklist, starred review