Dear Great Book Guru, The weather has been so oppressive, my family and I have had little interest in leaving the air-conditioned comfort of our home, but I do feel this is the perfect time for a chilly mystery.  Any suggestions?   Chilling Out with a Good Book

Dear Chilling Out, I have just the book for a sultry summer day: WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA by Dervla McTiernan.  The story opens with Nina - a twenty-year-old college student recounting details of her long-term romance with Simon - a childhood friend.  The last words of her introduction are “And then I went downstairs to tell Simon we were over, and I never wanted to see him again.”  Each of the remaining thirty-six chapters is told from a different point of view: Nina’s parents, Simon’s parents, Detective Wright, friends of the couple, and Grace - a young sibling. We soon see this is more than a crime novel but rather a study of the effects of social media on the pursuit of justice as we view the cruel victimization of Nina and her family.  Simon’s parents’ wealth allows them to circumvent the law in many subtle and not so subtle ways: the hiring of a PR firm and high-powered lawyers, the manipulation of security cameras, and the intimidation of neighbors, while Nina’s family relentlessly pursues all avenues - legal and otherwise - to get their daughter back.  The characters are colorfully described and as we learn more and more about each of their stories, we wonder if the truth will ever be known.  Highly recommended!