The Butler Did It

I'm sure we've all heard that phrase, "The Butler Did It."  It is a popular idiom, and rightly so when it comes to crime/mystery novels.  I was up way too late last night finishing The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon.  I really loved it!  To be honest, It started a little slow, but once I got halfway through I could not put it down.  There were so many twists and turns, and like most good mysteries, I had no idea who Neptune was and who was committing the killings until Reggie figured it out.

So here is a summary of The One I Left Behind:
A serial killer invades the small town of Brighton Falls, Connecticut in 1985, kidnapping women, cutting off their right hand and leaving it at the door of the police station, and killing them five days later and leaving the body.  Reggie's mother becomes one of Neptune's victims and she and her friends try to solve the mystery within the five days to rescue her mother.  They don't solve the crime, but her mother's body also doesn't appear.  25 years later, adult Reggie is surprised when she receives a phone call from her aunt that they have found her mother.  Alive.  She is, of course, missing her right-hand, and mentally seems disoriented.  But she is alive.  Reggie moves home to help aid in her mother's recovery.  While she is helping, one of her childhood friends Tara disappears.  Her right hand appears at the police station and the whole town assumes Neptune is back, or a copycat murderer.  Once again, Reggie delves into solving the mystery.  And this time, she figures out who the killer is.  But was it too late to save Tara?  Herself?  And who was the mysterious Neptune?  You'll have to read to find out!

Fortunately, I finished my book at a good time as this morning I took my CLC classes to the school media center to look for new books.  The nonfiction title, Escape, caught my eye, largely because the co-author shares the same exact name as me!  It is about a radical polygamist cult where the author is a woman who married a 50 year old man when she was 18 and birthed 8 children.  It caught me eye and I read the first 30 pages during bell 2 and am going to keep going.  I found this intriguing interview with the author that helped explain some of the religious background in the book:

What are you reading right now?