Zack enjoys his new neighbors, Trixie the accountant and Earl the handyman, and even enjoys fending off the save the salamander petitioner, Samuel Spender. While walking around the neighborhood one day, Zack finds Samuel’s body in a creek. There are several suspects that would want Samuel dead. However, when a young woman is found dead Zack, feeling his old journalistic stirring, knows there is something much more going on in the peaceful suburbs.

Zack is a delightfully paranoid house-husband. While trying to teach his wife a lesson about leaving her purse unattended in the grocery store he inadvertently steals another woman’s purse - a woman who later ends up being a murder victim. Zack stumbles across many situations, but it is his ability to absorb and process information without fanfare that leads to a major arrest and the realization that life isn’t always better in the ‘burbs.

With many seemingly unrelated subplots, it is hard to believe everything will be connected eventually, yet that is what happens as the story slowly reveals itself. Zack is an entertaining character, he is very funny and his paranoia isn’t debilitating, rather is a delightful character quirk, especially when you realize he has overlooked some of the more obvious, dangerous situations. His wife is a more serious counterpart, though a bit scatterbrained and not as uptight as Zack.

Even with the light-hearted tone, the mystery is substantial and gives readers plenty of mystery to solve. While Zack’s stay in the suburbs may be short, his future in the mystery world looks very bright.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry