Writer Christine Duncan has herself a winner in the novel Safe House.  Kaye Berreano is the mother of two teens, divorced and working hard as a counselor at a home for battered women.  As if she didn’t have enough with all this on her plate, the murder of a former neighbor’s teen daughter throws her life into turmoil.

Drugs and teenagers prove to be a tragic and fatal mixture, and when Kaye’s son is under suspicion for the murder, she finds herself flailing around for solutions to several problems at once.  Kaye seeks support from both her ex-husband and her current police officer boyfriend, yet she is extremely independent-minded and tries to take on as much as she can without asking for too much help.

I found this to be a very well crafted and interesting story.  I was, however, slightly bothered by repeated references to characters running their hands through their hair and cupping each other’s chins.  That is really small potatoes compared to how very good the book is.  Having finished the book, I now want to read the author’s previous book Safe Beginnings, and I hope that the series will continue.  The characters are unique, real, and they face many modern day problems head on.  These include teen sex, drug use, the effect of divorce on teens, and the problem of dating after divorce.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery. It offers above average clues laid out for the reader and very realistic characters and situations.