Charley's Web.

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher and librarian in Winnipeg.

This latest thriller from prolific author Fielding presents Palm Beach Post features writer Charley Webb, whose column earns her both praise and criticism as she tackles controversial and unusual human-interest topics. A single mother of two, Charley frequently receives hate email, but her latest column elicits some particularly harsh responses, among them “DIE, BITCH, DIE, and take your bastard children with you” on the same day that she receives a letter from death row inmate, Jill Rohmer, a convicted murderess who “butchered three little kids.” Appalled yet intrigued by the offer to write Jill’s story, Charley agrees to meet and decides to accept the assignment, captivated by Jill’s insistence that a partner she names Jack helped butcher the children. Craving respect as a credible journalist and competing with her sister, a successful novelist, Charley secures a book contract with the help of Jill’s attractive lawyer, Alex Prescott, who, incidentally, becomes her lover.

On the home front, single-by-choice Charley raises two children, “mothers” her self-destructive younger brother, and reconnects with her mother who had left a cold and unemotional husband and four children when Charley was eight. Twenty years later Elizabeth returns from Australia hoping to reconcile with her children; however, only Charley agrees to try bridging the time and emotion gap. As letters from, and interviews with, the manipulative and devious convict proceed, Charley continues to receive emails threatening her children: “don’t fool yourself that your children will be spared,” culminating in “I’m coming. Soon.” As she struggles to balance a complicated personal life, acrimony from irritated neighbours and acquaintances whom she sometimes uses as fodder for her columns, and her research and writing, Charley must protect her children from a ruthless murderer who seems to know far too much about her life.

Fielding’s page-turner introduces another strong, independent, and complex female protagonist and sets a breakneck pace toward a sensational climax. She develops psychological suspense well and keeps the tension elevated as Charley races to save her children and unmask Jill’s mysterious accomplice. Although savvy mystery buffs will identify the villain early, Charley’s Web manages to entertain in spite of the gruesome details about child murders and some predictable plot elements.