Best Practices - (A Nora Best Mystery) by Gwen Florio (Paperback)

About the Book

Nora Best's trying to start her life over as a 'team leader' at a retreat for troubled teens. All seems perfect but for the recent death of a girl. It's framed as suicide, but as Nora learns more about how the retreat is run she has suspicions that isn't the case. She's determined to find out the truth and help the teens still there.

Book Synopsis

A tense and claustrophobic mystery set in the Montana wilderness starring Nora Best.

Nora Best is starting her life over . . . again. Spotting a 'team leader' job with a therapy program for troubled girls at Serendipity Ranch, Nora thinks it's the perfect role. She'll be surrounded by the beautiful Montana wilderness and be able to make a difference in the kids' lives.

All is going well until it's revealed a girl recently died at the ranch. The other girls are struggling with the loss. The official line is she jumped from a cliff, but she was afraid of heights and would have struggled to get there alone.

As trouble at the ranch escalates and another shocking discovery is made, Nora's determined to find out the truth to protect the girls. However, with her recent troubles, the local community, police and program leaders won't take her seriously. Can Nora overcome her past to help the girls, or are the girls using her past to help themselves?

Review Quotes

A breathtaking page-turner-- "Kirkus Reviews Starred Review of Best Laid Plans"

A hypercontemporary look at long-standing social justice issues-- "Kirkus Reviews on Best Kept Secrets"

A strong female lead and a dramatic look at seldom discussed social injustices . . . Hopefully Nora will be back soon-- "Publishers Weekly"

Deftly weaving Nora's efforts to reestablish relationships into her realization that she must face unhappy truths about her past and her former friends, Florio, a former journalist, uses storytelling to explore the persistence of racism and the far-reaching damage it inflicts-- "Booklist on Best Kept Secrets"

Engrossing series launch. Fans of strong female leads will look forward to seeing more of plucky Nora-- "Publishers Weekly on Best Laid Plans"

The first in a new series, told from the viewpoint of a woman over 50, on her own for the first time, introduces a complex story. Florio's suspenseful mystery will have readers rooting for amateur sleuth Nora-- "Library Journal Starred Review of Best Laid Plans"

About the Author

Gwen Florio grew up in a farmhouse filled with books and a ban on television. After studying English at the University of Delaware, she began a decades-long career in journalism that has taken her around the country and to more than a dozen countries, including several conflict zones.

Her first novel in the Lola Wicks mystery series, Montana, won the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction and the High Plains Book Award, and was a finalist for the Shamus Award, an International Thriller Award and a Silver Falchion Award. She has since released four other books in the Lola Wicks series and one standalone novel. Best Laid Plans was the first book in the Nora Best series and her first with Severn House.