Carol Brennan

The House on Sprucewood Lane is a psychological thriller that twists and turns and ultimately delivers proof that the most dangerous “F-word” in the English language is family. The McQuade family of tony Westport, Connecticut springs from the pages of a lifestyle magazine—perfect parents, Melanie and Tom, and their two gifted children. But behind the perfect façade hides an ugly truth. Melanie's estranged sister, documentary filmmaker Lex Cavanaugh, a woman with deep problems of her own, knows that the truth of any picture lies in the eye of the beholder. So when her unhappy twelve-year-old nephew Jared emails her that his younger sister Calista, a brilliant gymnast, has been murdered, Lex flies to Westport and finds her family living its worst nightmare. No family member is above suspicion. Not the obsessive, controlling Melanie, the roving TV personality Tom or the deeply unhappy Jared. As the investigation unfolds, decades of indiscretions, resentments and buried truths rise to the surface. Now it's up to Lex to unlock those secrets—the McQuades' and her own—if there's any hope for their future. ****The House on Sprucewood Lane was previously published under the pseudonym Caroline Slate***