False Faces

Book excerpt: A cop goes undercover to investigate the murder of a woman on New York’s Fire Island: “A good yarn populated with well-drawn characters” (Booklist). Alison, a young, single Manhattan retail buyer, first met Linda seven years ago, when both answered the same classified ad for a Fire Island share. Since then, they’ve been returning to Seaside Harbor every summer weekend. But one night, after leaving Crane’s, a famed singles bar, Linda is found murdered, and Alison starts to realize how little she really knows about her housemate. Is the killer a spurned suitor? What about the mysterious lover back in the city Linda had spoken of—but whom Alison has never met? Meanwhile, Long Island police officer Joe DiGregorio has been assigned to work undercover on the case, posing as a yuppie accountant. Together, Joe and Alison—who is unaware of Joe’s real identity—are about to unravel Linda’s many secrets . . . “With refreshing insight, Margolis conveys the intensity and the crass materialism that are the hallmarks of a certain breed of young professionals.” —Publishers Weekly