She's still weighing her options when she hears the sound of an engine roaring down Main Street. It's a big white pickup truck that aims for and hits Marshall as he's walking back to his apartment. Tragically, he's killed, leaving Tricia feeling bereft and guilty. She retreats to her sister, Angelica's, apartment to wait for Baker to update her on what happened. While there, Tricia takes Angelica's dog out for a comfort call behind the building, and the same white pickup roars up the alley and just misses hitting Tricia.
Still shaken by that news, Tricia returns to Haven't Got a Clue and is met by federal marshal Kirby, who tells her that Marshall had been in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Everything Marshall told Tricia was a lie—in particular, that he was a widower. Was his death an act of revenge?
Tricia's on the hunt for a killer, and it seems like she might be next on the list. ---bn.com
I hope you're ready, because A Deadly Deletion has a lot going on within it's pages. For starters, it literally picks up where it's predecessor, handbook For Homicide leaves off. So, right off the bat Tricia gives her answers for the two marriage proposals she's just received. As this story unfolds, people Tricia thought she knew turn out to be the opposite. By the time you read the last word, secrets are uncovered and a long standing character from the series dies. All of this leaves Tricia dazed and confused.
Marshall's death leaves her emotions raw. She was very confident in the answer she gave him and knew it was the right one. But that was all before he died and secrets from his past- and present- come to life. As it turns out. she didn't know Marshall at all. It doesn't take long for those secrets to unravel in the form of government officials and people from his past to show up with answers to the questions she never knew she needed to ask.
But all those revelations still don't explain who killed him and why? was it even connected to his past, or could it just be an accident? Turns out that answer comes with it's own mind blowing revelations. Ones with deadly ends. By the time the climax of the story arrives, Tricia has no clue who she can trust. Family was always her safe place, but a falling out takes that away from her.
This was a great story, but a heavy one. A Deadly Deletion isn't a light hearted addition to the series. The ending was not what I thought it would be. The "bad guy" wasn't who I thought it was going to be. I was shocked to see the ending play out. It didn't leave me warm and fuzzy, but it did what a mystery is meant to do: keep me guessing and turning the pages.
