Wreck Your Heart

A Mystery

By: Lori Rader-Day

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

From award-winning author Lori Rader-Day, Wreck Your Heart is an engaging, “wisecracking and wonderful” crime novel with a big heart, about a country and midwestern singer out to catch her big break before family—or murder—wrecks everything.

Dahlia “Doll” Devine had the kind of hardscrabble beginning that could launch a thousand broken-hearted country songs, but now she’s the star of her own stage at McPhee’s Tavern. As part of Chicago’s—yes, Chicago’s—country music scene, Dahlia is an up-and-coming singer in spangles and boots of classic country tunes. Up and coming, that is, until her boyfriend Joey up and went, taking the rent money with him.

So Dahlia is back to square one, relying on Alex McPhee—again. Alex helped her out of a bad situation when she was a kid living rough with her mother. Now he’s part landlord, part band booster, all-around rescuer. It’s just that Dahlia wishes she didn’t keep giving him reasons to have to do it.

Just as Dahlia suspects she’s scraped rock bottom, the mother she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years shows up with something to say. The next morning, a distraught young woman arrives at the bar, asking after her missing mother—Dahlia's mother, too, even if the missing suburban PTA mom the girl describes sounds pretty different from the one who let Dahlia down all those years ago.

Though no one is using the word sister any time soon, Dahlia lets herself be drawn into reuniting the family that might have been hers. But when a body is discovered outside McPhee’s Tavern, the crime threatens not just the place Dahlia has made into a home, but everything she’s believed about her past, her dreams for the future, and the people she was just, maybe, beginning to let into her heart.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

Critic reviews

"Exceptional...Rader-Day excels at conjuring the sights and sounds of her Chicago setting, and Dahlia is a spunky, unforgettable heroine. The result is a consistently surprising mystery that readers will be hard-pressed to put down." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Suspense novelist Rader-Day changes pace with this sharply funny, heartfelt mystery, and every bit of it works. Its exploration of family secrets will delight fans of Nina Simon’s Mother-Daughter Murder Night and Nita Prose’s The Maid."--Library Journal (starred review)

“A buoyant thriller with vivid characters and wisecracks aplenty.”—Kirkus Reviews

"Rader-Day’s fully realized characters and redemption through-line will hook readers here; recommended for fans of Sara Paretsky’s V. I. Warshawski mysteries."--Booklist

"Lori Rader-Day’s writing is phenomenal. Dahlia Devine has a voice so unique, clear, and strong, she'll break your heart. This book absolutely sings."--Elle Cosimano

"Wise-cracking and wonderful, Philip Marlowe meets VI Warshawski. A love letter to country music and to Chicago, but very much more than that. Nobody does strong women better than Rader-Day." –Ann Cleeves

"Lori Rader Day is one of the most creative—and boldest—voices in contemporary crime fiction. She constantly explores new narratives and new viewpoints. Wreck Your Heart is one of her best novels yet."—Sara Paretsky

“Lori Rader-Day is back with a tour de force that only she—with her uniquely observant, poetic voice and her gift for drawing fully-fleshed characters—could pull off. Set in Chicago’s vibrant streets and shadowed by the haunting chords of country music, Wreck Your Heart weaves a tale of betrayal, buried secrets, and fractured family ties. The slow burn suspense tightens with every twist, leading to an unforgettable crescendo.” —Jess Lourey

Heartwarming Midwest tale about different family structures and life struggles with a murder mystery dashed in.

Sweet, thought provoking, mystery that keeps you guessing. Some tough family dynamics and childhood trauma talked out with a dash of country music and humor and wit. Really enjoyed

Great Storyline, Unexpected Ending

Lori Rader-Day’s storytelling in “Wreck Your Heart” is compelling, smooth, and engaging. As a murder mystery junkie, I’m always surprised by Rader-Day’s ability to astound when the culprit is revealed. Easy read with interesting facts and characters so real they will become your friends for years to come.

Love It!

The full spectrum of emotion with humor and mystery. Memory, perception verses reality with a Lori Rader-Day ending.

Delightful!

Amazing, funny, tender, layered, great characters, perfectly plotted, great sense of place, everything a book should be. I expect quality from this author and she delivered