A Tangled Web

by Candace Toft

A mainstream novel set in San Diego neighborhoods, A Tangled Web contains all the ingredients of an excellent read: mysterious overtones, good humor, well-drawn characters and an intriguing plot. The reader soon learns that four people are being blackmailed by the same person for different reasons. The blackmailer Lenny Goff, a failure in life, has happened upon the secrets held by Paulette Wynn, who covered up her sister's murder of their abusive father; Jonathan Jeffries, a banker whose conservative lifestyle and marriage have kept him in the closet; Anna Goldberg, who secretly gave away a child for adoption twelve years before, and musician Charley McGaffey, who claimed he wrote the song he had stolen from a recently deceased friend. When these "victims" manage to find one another, they discover how the blackmailer knows about each of their deceptions. They subsequently form an indomitable team and set about thwarting him, which results in a successful caper and an unexpected conclusion.

260 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2013