Tuesday, February 17. 11:40 a.m., Corner of Vermont Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. A robber approached the victim from behind and put a knife to her stomach. . . . Stabbings, even fatal ones, are not uncommon in Los Angeles. But the stabbing death of Aggie Lasher-a vibrant young woman dedicated to helping others and, it seemed, deeply loved by everyone who knew her-was especially tragic. For almost six years she has been obsessed by the mystery of her best friend's murder: If she had been with Aggie, would the killer have chosen another victim? Will the killer ever be caught? When Molly's LAPD pal Detective Andy Connors shows her a locket found on the body of a dead man, suddenly the case seems solved. Molly had given that locket to Aggie. Still coiled inside it is the red-thread good-luck charm that Molly had brought back years ago from Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, a thread with the reputed mystical power to protect its wearer. The presumed murderer-a good-looking aspiring actor named Randy Creeley-was found dead of an overdose in his shabby Hollywood apartment. But Molly has unanswered questions. And though she should be focused on her wedding, only weeks away, she is driven to find out more-about Creeley; about his nervous sister, Trina; about his missing girlfriend, Doreen. About Aggie, who, it turns out, didn't tell her best friend everything. The more Molly discovers, the more she wonders: Was Aggie's life snuffed out so an addict could shoot up? Or has Creeley been framed? What if Aggie was deliberately murdered by someone else, someone who is ready to kill again to ensure that his motives stay buried with Aggie and Randy Creeley? Molly's search for the truth sends her scurrying for answers in an L.A. tourists seldom see. But closure is elusive, and seeking it can exact a stiff price-sometimes even a life. Rochelle Krich's third Molly Blume mystery is irresistible: an inexorably compelling chiller. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly In Krich's third entertaining thriller starring spunky L.A. true-crime writer Molly Blume (after 2003's Dream House), Molly at last gets on the trail of the killer who murdered her best friend, Aggie Lasher, six years earlier. Molly is blissfully preparing for her upcoming marriage to Zack, an ultra-cool rabbi (who doesn't mind if Molly wears jeans under her skirt), when Andy Connors, her friend at the LAPD, asks her to identify a locket found on the body of aspiring actor Roland Greeley, an apparent drug overdose victim. Molly identifies the locket as the one she bought 10 years before at Rachel's Tomb in Israel and gave to Aggie. The locket contains a sacred red thread "whose mystical power wards off the evil eye lurking behind envy and arrests its malignant reach." Was Greeley guilty of Aggie's murder? The more Molly digs into his past, the more she doubts the recovering addict killed Aggie, a dedicated social worker at Rachel's Tent, a haven for at-risk and abused women. Krich never misses a beat as her heroine unravels the dark tangle of the senseless crime, affirming Rachel's legacy and the blessing behind the red thread: the healing power of truth. Krich once again expertly mixes Orthodox Jewish faith with crisp whodunit plotting. Copyright ® Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Crime reporter Molly Blume is busy planning her wedding to Rabbi Zack when Detective Andy Connors appears with a locket that belonged to her best friend, Aggie Lasher. Someone fatally stabbed Aggie six years earlier, and the crime remains unsolved. The locket turned up with the body of Randy Creely, an aspiring actor and drug addict who overdosed. The police assume that Creely was the murderer. Molly, who has been obsessed with her friend's death, is not sure that the actor committed the crime and begins investigating. Her family and her fiance would prefer that she concentrate on the wedding, but she has other ideas. Her curiosity exposes corruption in prominent families and puts her in danger. As always, Krich mixes a good mystery with L.A. lore and a glimpse at Orthodox Jewish traditions. Her fans will enjoy Molly's latest case even as they await a new adventure in Krich's other series, starring West L.A. detective Jessica Drake. Barbara Bibel Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved