ACT OF BETRAYAL

N.Y.: Hyperion, 1996. First edition with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. When a fatal bomb erupts, Britt Montero, a "Miami New" police reporter, finds herself in the middle of her biggest story so far, "The latest Britt Montero mystery involves the Miami News crime reporter in two cases. The first concerns a missing 12-year-old boy. In researching a story about the boy's disappearance, Britt uncovers a disturbing pattern in which a number of physically similar young boys have vanished. The other case begins spectacularly when a local Hispanic television commentator is killed via car bomb. His recent stance on a free Cuba had obviously angered one of Miami's Cuban activist groups. But the headlines quickly become personal as Britt is forced to examine the life of the father she never knew. Tony Montero, a freedom fighter, was executed in Cuba by Castro. A diary he kept while incarcerated may still exist, and two anti-Castro groups want it. What Britt learns about her father forces her to reexamine her relationship with her mother, whose seeming superficiality looks quite different in a new context. Though Buchanan's mysteries always ring true--she herself has been a Pulitzer Prize-winning crime reporter in Miami for years--Britt Montero has tended to function more as a plot device than a real character. That changes here. In the course of confronting her past and understanding her heritage, Britt becomes a more fully realized, empathetic protagonist, and that in turn makes this entry easily the best installment in an already strong series." -- BOOKLIST. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.