Blow Up

April 1, 2023

The exciting new Sophie Medina book (following Ghost Image) has enough thrill and historical context to keep readers engaged. Photojournalist Sophie is out for a run with her friend Jack O'Hara, a Catholic priest, when they stumble upon the body of Supreme Court Justice Everett Townsend. Barely hanging onto life, Townsend is rushed to the hospital, where he later dies. Before Sophie can grasp what has happened, an unhoused young man close to her is murdered right after confessing a secret to her. Knowing the two deaths are connected, Sophie searches for answers, putting her own life at risk. Crosby paints a detailed picture of life in Washington, DC, from the food and architecture to the heartbreaking reality of homelessness. The pacing and reveal of the plot are ensconced in social commentary about the violent and disillusioned political state of the country's capital. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Crosby and of novelists who specialize in intricate plots and amateur detectives.--Carmen Clark

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April 1, 2023
A photojournalist notices too many odd things for her own good. Sophie Medina is struggling to deal with the death of her husband, a CIA spy supposedly killed in an accident. Even former Secretary of State Quill Russell, a family friend, won't reveal much, but he does ask Sophie to shoot photos for a book about his Virginia home as an anniversary gift for his wife, Vicki. On an early morning trip to shoot the last of the photos, she sees Vicki naked in the pool with a man who isn't her husband. Upset, Sophie flees, determined to say nothing. Stopping at her mother's nearby home, she learns about the handwritten will of her recently deceased grandfather, a famous photographer, which leaves everything but his cameras to a small arts school. When she meets former boyfriend Jack O'Hara, now a Jesuit priest, for a run and dinner, they find an unconscious man lying in an alley; Jack recognizes him as Supreme Court Justice Everett Townsend, and Sophie sees he's the naked man from Vicki's pool. The justice is disliked by many and has a reputation as a womanizer. Maybe that's why his wife, Diana, who Jack says is a living saint, seems all too eager to have him cremated as soon as he's died. A young formerly homeless man named Javier Aguilera, whom Sophie's been helping to become a photojournalist, tells her he was in the ER when Justice Townsend came in--except it wasn't Justice Townsend. Javi says it was a homeless man with dementia who was Townsend's doppelg�nger and who was known around town as "the Professor." That information sets Sophie on a frustrating trip to try to prove what she's come to suspect. Boldly drawn characters shoulder mysteries set among elite Washington power brokers.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2023
In the third series entry, photojournalist Sophie Medina continues to search for the truth about the death of her CIA agent husband, not believing the official version. During a jog, Sophie and her friend Jack find Supreme Court Justice Everett Townsend close to death and call for help. Complicating matters, her young friend Javi is missing, possibly on the run, and a woman attempts to blackmail Sophie's family, claiming she was married to Sophie's famous photographer grandfather and they never obtained a divorce. Sophie works to unravel her grandfather's past and searches for Javi, whose disappearance is connected to the attack on Townsend, and she ultimately learns facts about her husband she would rather not have known. As she uncovers evidence of a conspiracy, her studio is ransacked and she is shot at, but she perseveres, doggedly pursuing the truth. Sophie is a principled, smart, well-drawn character in a fast-paced story with multiple plot lines, framed by details of homelessness, DC politics, and photography.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.