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Dr. Alan Gregory returns to the fore in this popular series about the sensitive but tough Boulder psychologist. After years of insisting that his family remain in their idyllic mountain home—despite the drive to town and wife Lauren’s infrequent but debilitating bouts with MS-related symptoms—Alan begins to consider relocating, especially after new neighbors move in. The husband is an attorney who has made a name for himself on the talk-show circuit on women’s rights issues, but Alan can’t shake the feeling that this slick talker won’t make a good neighbor. His instincts prove to be right after controversy surfaces following the new couple’s housewarming party, where one guest stayed at the party a little too long for her own good, apparently becoming the victim of rape. Secrets abound as Alan’s best friend, Detective Sam Purdy, is put on the case but isn’t talking and Lauren, an attorney in the D.A.’s office, also becomes involved. Even Alan himself, who’s desperate to know what’s going on, keeps quiet about the fact that the victim is a former patient. With his usual deftness, White mixes psychological thriller with police procedural, all while making room for the characters to develop and interact. Recommend this one to fans of husband-wife duos, including Faye Kellerman’s popular (but uneven) Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series. --Mary Frances Wilkens

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New York Times bestselling author Stephen White returns to his beloved Alan Gregory series with a taut, ripped-from-the-headlines crime story.

Stephen White's most recent bestseller, The Siege, featured his series character Sam Purdy in a relentlessly paced stand-alone thriller that critics hailed as "brilliantly conceived and executed" (_Publishers Weekly_) and "the best and most interesting terrorism thriller I've seen." (_The Washington Post_) Now, in The Last Lie, White returns to his Alan Gregory series roots with the popular characters and Boulder setting that first launched him onto the bestseller lists and attracted legions of fiercely loyal fans.

Shortly after Alan and Lauren welcome their affluent new neighbors-a legal legend in women's rights law and his beautiful wife-the couple hosts a housewarming party that ends in quiet disaster. One of their guests, a young widow, elects to spend the night after indulging in too much wine, only to wake the next morning with no memory beyond getting ready for bed. Was she drugged? Raped? Lauren, a deputy district attorney, and detective Sam Purdy are both privy to facts they can't share with Alan, but Alan soon discovers that he has a most unusual perspective into what truly happened after the housewarming party. Before Alan can discover all the pieces to the puzzle, an important witness to the events is murdered. Alan fears that other witnesses-people he loves-will be next. Smart, topical, and deftly plotted, The Last Lie delivers the pulse-pounding return of one of contemporary fiction's most enduring heroes.