Dead lies

Police officer Anna Valentine, the heroine of Loening's uneven first novel, gave up her job with the NYPD after a tragic accident and moved with her troubled young son to work in a posh New Jersey suburb. Now she's just been assigned her first homicide-the Christmas Day slaying of a wealthy husband and wife. Hopes for healing and a quiet life are further complicated by her powerful attraction to the successful and sensitive brother of one of the victims.