The Girl Next Door (Carter Ross #3) by Brad Parks









Entertaining Mystery

Published by Minotaur Books on March 12, 2012.

Carter Ross is a good reporter on the staff of a struggling newspaper in Newark, New Jersey. When a delivery person for his paper is killed in a hit and run accident, Ross decides to do a little human interest piece for the paper. But, as he starts to interview her friends and family for the background material some things just do not add up. Throw in the insistent claims from her sister that she was murdered and the strange behavior of his paper's publisher and Ross gets curious and starts to do some digging of his own. Of course, things do not
Brad Parks. Photo by
James N. Lum.
 go smoothly and Ross gets involved in all sorts of dangerous (and embarrassing) situations.

 Ross is a likeable character and his cast of friends and colleagues that fill the book make this a very entertaining read. This is not a dark,  gritty, hard-edged novel although the mystery is plenty convoluted and quite satisfying. I have not read Brad Parks before and I will certainly keep an eye out for his other books.

 I rate this mystery 4 stars out of 5.

 This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Girl Next Door.

 Reviewed on March 17, 2012.

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