Pretty Girls

Publishers Weekly 07/06/2015 Claire Scott, the heroine of this gripping standalone from bestseller Slaughter (Cop Town), thought she knew everything about her architect husband, Paul, but her posh Atlanta life is turned upside down when he’s fatally stabbed in an alley and she uncovers a series of nasty videos on his home computer. Paul’s dark side is what drove a wedge between Claire and her sister Lydia 18 years earlier, when Lydia accused Paul of attempted rape. At the time, Claire sided with Paul, and the sisters stopped speaking. The family was already splintered following the 1991 disappearance of Claire and Lydia’s older sister, 19-year-old Julia, who vanished near her University of Georgia dorm. Paul’s death brings Claire and Lydia back together as they begin peeling back the layers of everything that the meticulously organized Paul kept hidden. Chapters from the girls’ father’s journal, written to the missing Julia, form a poignant counterpoint to the chilling violence of this unsettling tale. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Sept.)