Merry Jones (Author)

Single mom Zoe Hayes's life takes a turn for the macabre when she and her adopted five-year-old daughter, Molly, discover a severed finger on her normally safe sidewalk in nonfiction writer Jones's fast-paced, fun first mystery. Zoe's rapidly gentrifying Philadelphia neighborhood is now definitely more edgy than quaint: someone is dismembering nannies in the area. As nanny after nanny disappears, detective Nick Stiles approaches Zoe, an art therapist, for help in his hunt for the "nannynapper," and though his choice of her as a professional resource makes no sense to Zoe and less to the reader, the pair has chemistry, at least. Soon the two are flirting even as they clash over the details of the case. Longtime divorcée Zoe isn't sure what to make of having a man around ("He'd used my StairMaster?"), and it's a rocky road to romance, especially with a serial killer involved. Zoe, of course, is the murderer's next target. Jones serves up grim details, building suspense slowly at first, then with an accelerating pace that will leave readers breathless for the nuanced finale.