The Finishing School » (Reprint)

Michele Martinez, a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, was a federal prosecutor in New York City for eight years. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and two children.

In a glittering penthouse high above Park Avenue, two beautiful teenagers, students at an exclusive Manhattan girls' school, lie dead under suspicious circumstances. Feeling pressure from the top to solve the high-profile case fast, Melanie breaks all the rules and goes undercover. Teamed with Dan O'Reilly, a hard-to-resist FBI agent with a talent for making her pulse race, Melanie embarks on a wild chase from the rarefied world of New York's elite private schools to the darkest recesses of the city's nightlife. And, ultimately, into a fight for her life against a devious killer who has no intention of getting caught.

Publishers Weekly

A federal prosecutor and single mother, Melanie Vargas, the protagonist from Martinez's first book, Most Wanted, is back with some of the same characters, plus a handful of new ones who will not be easy to forget. Vargas is investigating the heroin overdose of two elite prep school girls and begins to suspect one overdose may be murder. As the plot unravels, Vargas takes the listener on a wild ride of hunches, risks and action. Broadway and television actress Anne Twomey does a superb job of performing all parts. She has a quiet, calm, determined voice, slightly reminiscent of Jane Fonda; crystal clear diction; and an knack for delivering convincing dialogue and believable accents. Her talents become particularly evident with Carmen Reyes, the mixed-up, and kidnapped, classmate of the girls, and with the sleazy and deadly nightclub tycoon, Jay Esposito, whose preferred lethal weapon is his set of golf clubs. The fear Twomey generates is palpable, as is the longing and desire felt by Vargas as she is partnered with her former crush, FBI Agent Dan O'Reilly. Simultaneous release with the Walker & Co. hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 12). (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.