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AMATEUR SLEUTH/
TRADITIONAL/
PSYCHOLOGICAL MYSTERY
asking for murder
A shrink by day and an advice columnist by night, Dr. Rebecca Butterman is always ready to help people sort through their issues. But when trouble hits close to home, and she offers her problem-solving skills to crime solvers, no one wants her two cents…
 
When Rebecca’s friend and fellow therapist Annabelle Hart is found badly beaten and left for dead, Rebecca is determined to help search for answers. But this time, no one wants her help. Not Detective Meigs, who thinks the crime was either a botched robbery or the result of a relationship gone sour. And not Annabelle’s sister, who makes it clear that Rebecca isn’t welcome in family matters.
 
The only place where her opinion matters is the therapist’s
couch. She's agreed to see Annabelle’s patients, but it won’t be easy. Annabelle’s area of expertise is sandplay therapy, which Rebecca knows little about—yet with a would-be killer on the loose, she can only hope the clues are buried within easy reach.
Read A Review:

Rebecca Butterman is a clinical psychologist and writes an advice column in her local New England newspaper.  Her dear friend, and fellow therapist, Annabelle Hart, misses a luncheon appointment.  Rebecca finds her badly beaten in her home in New Haven.  Annabelle's sister arrives in town and refuses to let Rebecca visit her in the hospital.

Rebecca pocketed Rebecca's Day Planner at the scene almost without realizing it because they had an agreement to cover each other's appointments in the case of an emergency.  Soon Rebecca begins to suspect it wasn't a simple case of burglary gone bad and begins to investigate.

Rebecca finds it enlightening in helping Annabelle's clients with sand therapy.  She isn't well versed in it and goes to her own therapist and uses it herself to deal with the men in her life, her father, her ex-husband, Detective Tiegs, and her almost-boyfriend Bob.

There are plenty of suspicious people to interview when Rebecca sets out to find out who beat up Annabelle and why.

I enjoy this series.  Rebecca is such a fun character.  And I like the tension between her and Detective Tiegs.  The supporting characters are always entertaining, too.  And I especially like the New England location.

I like that Rebecca is an intelligent sleuth, but doesn't fully have her life together.  I think many readers can relate to that.

I highly recommend this book and series.

Dawn Dowdle