A crime story moves between Chicago and the southern town
of Avalon as a lawyer is asked to take on a paternity, and
possible divorce, case. SECOND TO CRY follows a previous
story which I had not read, and references to that case
are
initially muted in complaints that the locals should have
gotten over it by now. Instead, the clannish residents of
Avalon still refuse to befriend Isla, wife of Aiden
Connelly who is the lawyer exposing distasteful truths.
Wealthy Samuel Fern married a former Playboy model and is
feeling insecure. His brother is the local sheriff who
disapproves of the model and of out-of-towners. Aiden has
to tread carefully. Deena Fern, the attractive wife, has
given no cause for marital suspicion except that her two
fine healthy sons have differing appearances. Her polite
demeanour hides her upset at Samuel's suspicions. Back at
Aiden's home, though, Isla is afraid to open the mailbox
after receiving threatening letters telling the family to
leave town. As accusations and counter-claims are made, it
becomes clear that more than one family's happiness could
be destroyed.
As I hadn't read the original story I was at a
disadvantage
when that turned out to be a motivating factor for much of
the action. A new reader is given sufficient information
to
pick up the threads and we have to go by Aiden's reactions
to the persons involved. Plenty of scenes occur in a
domestic context with small children being fed or amused,
possibly to show us what is at stake behind the posturing
and threats. Safe to say that I found Aiden Connelly an
antihero rather than a hero, as he makes several ill-
judged
decisions and dismisses the threatening letters with the
knee-jerk reaction that his wife must have written them
herself.
SECOND TO CRY is more a work of crime-edged fiction than a
whodunit
so don't expect a staple mystery, but if you want to pick
up a story with a different slant the tense atmosphere of
SECOND TO CRY by Carys Jones provides a look behind the
scenes of family disputes. The earlier book First To Fall
introduced Aiden and his family to the town of Avalon.
Sometimes, behind the simplest cases…
Lawyer Aiden Connolly’s new case seems to be a run-of-the-
mill paternity dispute. Millionaire Sam Fern suspects that
his son is not his own flesh and blood, and he wants a
paternity test to prove it. Fern’s wife Deena, a glamorous
former model, is desperate to convince Aiden of her
innocence…and she will go to any lengths to prove it.
…hide the darkest truths.
Meanwhile, Aiden is haunted by the memory of another
beauty – Brandy White, who he worked to free from a murder
charge. The woman he unwittingly fell in love with…and the
woman who will once again draw him into a tangle of love
and lies. With more than his reputation on the line, can
Aiden hold his nerve – when nothing else seems certain?
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