This author has had Multiple Sclerosis for more than 20 years. The main character in her book is just finding out that she has disease and the effects of the disease impact her life. She can no longer do the job as well as she used to be able to. And it’s changing her personal life, too.

Anyone who has fatigue, pain, body parts that don’t work or other things that hold you back will be able to relate to this story.

McGuire is a detective, who has also solved her cases. Her partner is Soigner, and they get along well and work as a team.
When she finds out she has MS, she at first wants to deny it. But that does no good. So then she hides it. That’s not a good plan either.
As she and her partner work on a double murder, they find this is no open and shut case. No one saw anything, the children were traumatized by finding the bodies, and he was a lawyer who placed children that needed to be adopted. There were disgruntled fathers who showed up too late to claim the child they’d created (many were never told of the birth), and they wanted their children back! One of them could be a suspect. They have to check out all the recent activities and talk to the secretary about potential conflicts that might have escalated into something else.
And, in the midst of all this, Soigner’s wife starts getting flowers – that he didn’t send her.
Soon McGuire is needed naps in the afternoon due to fatigue and she can’t hide her illness anymore. That bothers Soigner. How’s she going to do her job if she has to nap all the time? And how’s he going to pursue who’s after his wife if he has to watch McGuire?
The mystery of who killed the lawyer and his wife (but didn’t hurt their children) is complex. He and she both had their secrets, and the deeper they dig, the worse it looks. He’s was into S & M sex, she had a son from old love affair and gave him up to get the lawyer.
The son is in a private school and nothing there is at it seems.
In the meantime, Soigner is attempting to find out who the stalker is after his wife. When he does find it, it scares him even more – he’s an evil man. He’s trying to cover for McGuire and protect his wife both.
And the road to the killers is still confused – they have almost too many suspects.
When they finally get a confession, they believe it’s a false one.
To find out how it ends, you’ll need to read the book.
The information about how MS affected the detective: the symptoms, the lack of feeling, the need for rest, her hand giving up on her and then working again a bit later – all made me realize how difficult an illness this is.
If you would be interested in a copy of this book, it’s available on Amazon. It’s a very good read, I’d recommend it.

Book review submitted by JoAnn Hakola, The Book Faerie for butyoudontlooksick.com 2009