In the fourth installment of the Lilly DeFranco saga, Lilly finds herself finally settled into her comfortable life in Mexico City. At the age of forty-two, she is happily married, the mother of a six-month-old, and the head of a charity that assists Mexican women recently released from prison. Everything is going great until Jeronimo Hermosa-a retired Mexico City crime boss, Lilly's former employer, and now, her benefactor-calls in a favor.
After serving ten years of a twenty-five-year murder sentence, Amelia Fuentes, a daughter of one of Jeronimo's close friends, is about to be released from a Juarez prison, and Jeronimo wants Lilly to assist Amelia upon her release. Amelia, a thirty-six-year-old American and minor actress, was indicted after allegedly murdering her husband, and after her release she has a newfound freedom. A freedom she views as an opportunity to avenge the loss of her daughter and the last ten years of her life.
Amelia's husband, Abraham, was an up-and-coming figure in his uncle's international law firm in Mexico City. However, he was also an adulterer, an abuser, and an embezzler. After Amelia supposedly murdered him, his body was never found, and the evidence left at the scene was questionable. Despite not having solid proof, the jury still found Amelia guilty, sentencing her to twenty-five years in prison and sending her one-year-old daughter to live with her parents, who tragically passed away while Amelia was locked away.
Amelia is convinced that Abraham faked his death and is perhaps hiding in plain sight, so she sets out to find him. However, within two days of her release, she becomes the prime suspect in the death of her husband's former mistress. Every step Amelia takes, she becomes more entangled in a web full of deception, corruption, and wrongdoings. Meanwhile, Lilly attempts to rein her in but is also battling her own demons and self-doubt. Lilly finds herself walking a fine line between her new, comfortable life and her criminal past, causing her to fall back into the hands of her husband, Jaime, a former homicide detective and, for many years, Jeronimo's go-to fixer. When the two discover that Amelia intends to confront her ex-husband, Lilly sets out to intercept her, leading to Lilly having to draw upon old skills and instincts she thought she would never have to use again.
About the Author :
As a child, Dennis Jung's imagination outgrew his small-town roots, which stemmed from the German-speaking part of the Texas Hill Country. With a strong desire to travel and inspiration from his bibliophile mother, Dennis earned a degree in anthropology and began a career stint as a military police lieutenant in Germany. Additionally, he has a subsequent career as a pediatric nurse practitioner that allowed him the flexibility to explore the world.
After a volunteer medical assignment in Micronesia and a lengthy sojourn in Asia and the Pacific, he settled in Honolulu, Hawaii, with his wife. There he earned a master's degree in nursing and served as an instructor in the graduate nursing program at the University of Hawaii. Despite his love for the beautiful island of Hawaii, the Rockies beckoned to him, and after vagabonding through the West, he and his wife eventually settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is where they reside to this day. Recently, Dennis retired from his long career in pediatrics, a profession that exposed him to the rich complexity of human experience and inspired him to create characters that are both real and wonderfully flawed. To learn more about his writing, visit his website, DennisJung.Com.
