DPO

Still in her mid-fifties, Deborah Mulvaney Markey believes that she has completely retired from the rough-and-tumble career of trying criminal cases for the more relaxed life writing a column for a struggling political blog in Washington, D.C. All of her comfort disappears, though, when she has dinner with Corey Walters, an old friend with whom she served in the Army as Saigon fell in 1975. At dinner, he explains that he has been working on the routine background check for the appointment of Senator Daniel Vasserman to serve as the next Secretary of Defense. Corey tells Deborah of his suspicions concerning the relationship between Vasserman and his long-time benefactor, Brad Lozier, a wealthy but shadowy industrialist. When Corey is found dead behind the wheel of his car several days later, an angry Deborah takes up the background check of Senator Vasserman, to the consternation of the FBI and the concern of those close to the senator.  
    Aided by her former assistant and best friend Robin, Deborah becomes immersed in the past life of Senator Vasserman and discovers the truth he has been hiding for many years about a car accident that killed one of his best friends from college many years before. In unwinding Vasserman’s past, Deborah becomes entangled with the powerful Lozier and has to protect herself against the security firm that does his dirty work.
    Political intrigue battled and a murder solved by a woman too smart and too courageous for her own good make The Background Check an unforgettable literary thriller.