Presumption of Death

by Perri O'Shaughnessy

Nina Reilly (9)

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A tough, passionate thriller set against the lush Lake Tahoe landscape and the world of one remarkable character, attorney Nina Reilly. O'Shaughnessy delves deeper into the heart and psyche of her popular heroine as Nina journeys back to her hometown to heal old wounds, and instead discovers that old secrets can be the deadliest kind. Nina Reilly needs a fresh start. In three years, she's taken on some of Lake Tahoe's most controversial cases and has turned her struggling one-woman law firm show more into a thriving practice. Now she's ready to sort out her complex relationship with her boyfriend, Monterey P.I. Paul van Wagoner. So she's heading to the Carmel Valley, the place where she began her career and where her estranged father lives. It's also a place of dramatic contradictions and hidden tensions, of new wealth and old families. And, within days of her arrival, Nina is already feeling the heat, as a case of arson exposes some of the darkest secrets of her hometown. Two suspicious fires have already raged through the valley this summer, igniting suspicions of arson. When a third blaze ends in a fatality, police zero in on a suspect: Wish, the son of Sandy Whitefeather, Nina's ex-assistant. The dead man is identified as Wish's childhood friend, a troubled local auto mechanic who hated the changes wealthy newcomers had brought to the valley. Nina and Paul are certain that there is more to this strange case than meets the eye. As they work together to clear Wish, new, more frightening questions are raised, and another fire is set. And out of the flames a terrifying picture emerges: a community steeped in secrets and rage, a tangled history between two men, and a killer whose motives are dark and wrenching. show less

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Member Reviews

4 reviews
As always, I enjoyed the storyline. There were a lot of subplots that were left at the end and they were quickly dispatched in 2 pages at the end of the book. It felt like the authors were tired of writing and just threw this in so they could finish the book. Otherwise, a good book.
O'Shaughnessy, Perri, Presumption of Death, (Pamela n Mary -2 sisters team-writing) Fires set by an arsonist in Carmel Valley Village - against development of the slopes. Nina Riley, one-woman law firm moves from Tahoe for the summer to be with boyfriend P.I. Wish, a native american, is missing. Is that his body in the fire?
Nach einem turbulenten Jahr wagt die Anwältin Nina Reilly einen Neuanfang und zieht zu ihrem Freund, dem Privatdetektiv Paul van Wagoner, ins Carmel Valley. Aber auch hier wartet schon bald ein neuer Fall auf sie - Wish, der Sohn ihrer ehemaligen Sekretärin Sandy Whitefeather, ist wegen Brandstiftung und fahrlässiger Tötung angeklagt. Als Nina und Paul zu recherchieren beginnen, geraten sie schnell zwischen die Fronten. Denn in Carmel Valley regieren die Neureichen - und das passt den alteingesessenen Familien ganz und gar nicht.

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Author Information

Picture of author.
34+ Works 6,215 Members
Perri O'Shaughnessy is the pen name for sisters Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy, who live in Hawaii and California. Pamela was a trial lawyer for sixteen years, and Mary is a former editor.

Series

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Presumption of Death
Original title
Presumtpion of Death
Original publication date
2003-08
People/Characters
Kurt Scott; Nina Reilly; Paul van Wagoner; Wish Whitefeather; Sandy Whitefeather; Kurt Scott (show all 7); Bob Scott
Dedication
To Peter Von Mertens, Ardyth Brock, Nita Pip0er, Sherry Jenks, Mary Ann Robnett, Elizabeth Blair, Jane Fuller, Joan Westlund, Joanna Tamer, Helga Gerdes, and Joyce Lindsey

Fast Friends
First words
Picture it: A moonless summer night filling a hollow sky, glossy unblinking stars; under this, the rolling brown summits of the Robles Ridge; under this the dry rattling of the leaf-tops of rustling oaks; and beneath all this... (show all), in the deep forest that slopes even farther down toward Steinbeck's pastures of heaven, two young men, hunting.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They walked in and the clapping started.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Mystery
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3565 .S542 .P74Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
504
Popularity
59,156
Reviews
3
Rating
(3.23)
Languages
Dutch, English, German
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
23
ASINs
7