Kate Conway is a television producer and recent widow who are feeling bored and unfilled with her job and her life. The design shows she has been producing for the past five months has become boring. She is looking for something more exciting. Suddenly, two production jobs open up that sound like they have the depth and interest she is looking for.

The first is a documentary about lifers in a state prison for Real T.V. It’s about men who committed serious crimes, were on death row, but have now been given life sentences. Kate’s bosses want her to cover how they are handling the inevitable long prison sentence, the reality of dying in prison, how they spend their days, and how they keep in touch with the outside. Kate and her crew, Andres and Victor, are given Brick Tyler and Tim Campbell to interview. What Kate doesn’t expect is that she will get as involved with the two inmates as she does.

The second show is about the opening of a new restaurant in an abandoned bank that will be transformed into a high end eatery. When Kate shows up to the initial meeting, she is greeted by Vera, Kate’s dead husband’s mistress. As Kate gets more involved with the restaurant show she realizes there is an underlying animosity among the investors. When one of the investors is murdered and Vera is suspected of the crime, Kate turns to someone that can help her understand the mind of a murder – one of the inmates she is interviewing.

Kate has a lot going on. She is still dealing with the death of her ex-husband, his affair with Vera Bingham, and her nosy and overbearing sister Ellen who is trying to get Kate to come out of depression and get back into society.

Life Without Parole is the second Kate Conway mystery written by Clare O’Donohue following Missing Persons. She is also the author of the popular Someday Quilts Mystery Series. This story has a lot going on as Kate travels back and forth between Dugan Correctional Center, the restaurant, trying to help Vera get out of her predicament, and still have a life of her own. Many of us can understand the tug and pull by various forces.

The author is adept at getting to the bottom of the thoughts and feelings of her characters. A number of times I felt emotions pulling at me as I felt for the character and what that character was dealing with. A number of twists and turns will keep readers interested and turning pages to find out what is next. What we are looking forward to is the next Kate Conway mystery.

A special thank you goes to Penguin Books for providing a complimentary copy of Life Without Parole. If you are interested in any of Clare O’Donohue’s mysteries, they are available at Amazon.com.