Gerry Boyle is at the top of his form in the riveting Petty Dead, his seventh novel to feature Maine crime reporter Jack McMorrow. When Jack’s significant other, social service worker Roxanne Masterson, investigates allegations of physical abuse concerning the young daughter of Boston bluebloods David and Maddie Connelly, Jack senses a story. And it’s a story he gets, but not the one he’d figured on. Jack and Roxanne are invited to a weekend retreat at the Connellys’ Blue Harbor estate, during which a beautiful young staff member steals the show, but soon winds up dead. Jack and Roxanne delve into all the unpleasant possibilities, but heavy muscle shows up to discourage Jack’s search, and a phone message soon forces him to put his cards on the table and the Connellys to unveil a dark secret from the past that could destroy far more than the family image. In the end, Jack must decide just where to draw the line between his friendship with the Connellys and his responsibility as a journalist to write the truth.