Philadelphia police officer Terry Rourke, the winning narrator of this entertaining thriller from bestseller Ledwidge (Run for Cover), has reluctantly returned to the Hamptons for the first time since he left for college some 20 years earlier, to attend his brother Tom's extravagant wedding. Now a wealthy New York City hedge fund manager, Tom has pulled out all the stops for the occasion, renting a Southampton dream house, complete with chefs, maids, and gardeners, that costs $500,000 per month. Tom has plans "to stick it to" certain members of the Southampton elite who made life difficult for the Rourke family when the boys were growing up in Hampton Bays, "the poor man's Hamptons," after their father, Suffolk County's head assistant district attorney, tried socialite Hailey Sutton for killing her husband, Noah. Memories of the worst period in Terry's life come flooding back, and he becomes obsessed with discovering the real story about Noah's death. Meanwhile, others want the truth to remain dead and buried. Appealing characters and snappy patter more than compensate for the so-so ending. Ledwidge really knows how to tell a story. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Getzler Literary. (Feb.)

Fans of cold case novels will enjoy this story with its unexpected twists. When Tom Rourke rents an estate and staff in Southampton, he pays $5 million for the month of July to celebrate his wedding. He wants his Irish American family to show off to all the people who shunned their family 20 years ago. But his younger brother Terry has his own way of getting even. Terry is now a police sergeant in Philadelphia with a wife and growing family. Although he was a teenager then, he remembers Hailey Sutton's trial for killing her husband, Noah. Stolen evidence and bribed witnesses destroyed their father's case against her and destroyed the assistant DA's career and life. While the family celebrates Tom's upcoming wedding, Terry digs for evidence in the cold case that could put Hailey back in court. But he's faced with crooked cops and a dirty DA. He also uncovers sickening information that leads him into the kind of trouble that Sutton money can buy. VERDICT Ledwidge (the "Michael Gannon" series) adopts techniques from his sometimes-coauthor James Patterson (with whom he wrote Zoo) for this fast-paced stand-alone mystery with short, snappy chapters.--Lesa Holstine