Description
Okay, Rinaldi. Deep breath. Here goes. . . . So begins Andrealisa (Andie) Rinaldi’s reluctant return to the small New Jersey river town where she grew up, but hasn’t set foot in since she was 12. But this is no class reunion, and she’s not expecting a warm welcome. Set in 1992, just before Bill Clinton’s election, Across the River follows tabloid journalist Andie as she reports on a media-frenzied, as-yet-unsolved celebrity murder that involves childhood friends . . . and enemies. Caught between a rock (the Palisades) and a hard place (New York City), she becomes part of the sensational story—and the target of a killer— while facing her own past, present and future. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll discover that she can go home again, and find the love and sense of family she’s been missing.
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It’s the summer of 1992, and William Jefferson Clinton seems headed for the White House. But not all Baby Boomers are having such a great year. Medical reporter Andrealisa “Andie” Rinaldi has just lost her job at the country’s most respected newspaper. (Was it really such a breech of ethics to use her cousin as an interview source?) Her big-city apartment is about to go condo. (Why would she even miss that one-window sweatbox?) Her long-distance romance with a cell biologist is suffering from travel fatigue. (Is love ever possible on a cellular level?) And her twin sister is threatening a relapse of her “impulse control problem.” (Has Caterina gone off her meds again?) Worse yet, Andie’s new employer, at the country’s least respected celebrity tabloid, has just learned of her past relationship with millionaire real-estate developer Joel Hartt: Nearly 25 years ago, Andie was Joel’s next-door neighbor and frequent playmate. Now the grown-up Joel is the prime suspect in the death of his daughter, Emma, a young fashion model/actress found strangled last New Year’s Eve. The case was never officially solved, and the tabloids won’t let it die. When her editor orders Andie to use her childhood connection for an exclusive interview with Joel, Andie must cross the river to the two-block-wide town she hasn’t set foot in since she was 12. And she has her own reasons for wanting to avoid this trip down Memory Lane. Back in the old neighborhood, Andie finds herself reliving her preteen world of Magic 8 Ball, Mystery Date, and Hide-and-Seek. Several former classmates from Holy Mother Little Academy (or Holy Moly, as it is known) reappear to replay the past: Her childhood nemesis is now the police detective on the case; her grade-school best friend is Joel’s lawyer; and her first crush has a few secrets of his own. When a new waterfront apartment complex goes up in smoke and another body is found under the smoldering rubble, Andie wonders if this killing was fueled by the first crime—and if the overheated tabloid stories she's been writing helped fan the flames. In this tiny riverside town, shadowed by magnificent cliffs on one side and the world's most treacherous city on the other, Andrealisa Rinaldi finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place. Rekindled rivalries and long-ago loyalties force Andie to confront the ultimate question: Can she go home again?
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