Swallow the Hook

Republished in 2015 as "The Lure"

DECENT PEOPLE. DESPERATE MEASURES.

The folks of remote, mountainous Trout Run, New York, are shocked when Mary Pat Sheehan's body is found in her crashed car. They're even more stunned when an autopsy reveals it wasn't the crash that killed her -- but complications from childbirth. No one even knew that cheerful, reliable, and unmarried Mary Pat was pregnant. In a town where everyone knows everyone's business, how did she hide her pregnancy? Where is her baby? And who is the father?

These daunting questions lead Police Chief Frank Bennett into the shadowy world of black market adoption scams, where panicked young women and desperate, childless couples play a high-stakes game. to prevent another tragedy, Frank must unravel a tangle of family secrets and unlikely alliances. But stepping closer to the truth puts Frank squarely in a killer's sights. Because when greed and love both fuel the fire, everyone gets burned.

S.W. Hubbard, an avid hiker and canoeist, has spent many happy hours exploring the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks, where her family built a vacation home on the banks of the West Branch of the Ausable River. She has worked for more than twenty years as a marketing promotions writer and lives in Morristown, New Jersey, with her husband, two children, and cat. Take the Bait, her debut mystery featuring Police Detective Frank Bennett, was published by Pocket Books.