The Serpent Club — Tom Coffey

Tom Coffey delivers a gut-wrenching debut, a sensational thriller that could be torn from today's headlines. Plunging deep into the morality of a city renowned for sin -- Los Angeles -- this edgy, piercing novel will carve its way into your psyche.
Her name is Megan Wright. Pretty. Thirteen. Nice house. Private school. When she is raped and murdered, it's a story, and Ted Lowe is the one to report it. He's been a reporter for many years, but this is the first time he actually sees a body. Megan was indeed pretty. The crime scene is anything but.
As Ted smoothly uncovers the facts surrounding Megan's death, he finds that the glittery facade of her perfect life was just that -- a thin veneer easily wiped away with the answers to a few well-placed questions. The suspects slowly accumulate: the cold-as-ice mother, the deadbeat surfer father, the friends, the boyfriend who happens to be the son of one of the richest men in California. It could be any one of them. For any reason.
As the spun-out decay of an entire city closes in around Ted, he realizes there are people who do not want this case solved. And if the life of a thirteen-year-old girl was worth taking, so is the life of a reporter who has seen too much.