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Jenny Cain #9
Confession
David Mayer isn't looking for an emotional reunion when he reveals to Jenny and Geof Cain that Geof is his biological father. Geof is a cop and David wants him to help solve the alleged murder/suicide of his parents. But, when another violent murder is committed, the stakes rise and the pace heats up. Pickard's award-winning mystery novels have gained her a loyal following and accolades from the press.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
14 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Pickard
103 books352 followersNancy Pickard is an American crime novelist. She received a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and began writing at age 35.
She has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, and a Shamus Award. She is the only author to win all four awards. Her novel The Virgin of Small Plains, published in 2007, won an Agatha Award. She also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America.
She has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, and a Shamus Award. She is the only author to win all four awards. Her novel The Virgin of Small Plains, published in 2007, won an Agatha Award. She also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 29, 2015
A cop and his “Nancy Drew” wife are taken aback when a young man shows up on their doorstep not only with a mystery for them to solve but with information that will forever change their world.
This is the 9th book in the Jenny Cain mysteries. Normally, I would not pick up a book that far into a series as my first book, but my local library was having an adult reading program that I couldn’t refuse – a blind date with a book. I had to pick out a book that was covered in brown paper, read it and write a review. There will be a raffle for a winner out of the reviews. This is the book I ended up with for my “blind date.”
I wasn’t very interested in the book in the beginning. There was a lot of description and internal monologue. Plus, I guessed a few things right off the bat that led me to think I would be able to guess the ending easily. I was happy to end up wrong on that point. As they mystery unraveled, my guesses turned out to be wrong and I ended up being fairly surprised at the end.
I did like the characters in this book, which leads me to believe I would have enjoyed it even more if I had started at the beginning of the series and knew more of the background of the cop, his wife and their friends. If the rest of the books in this series are mysteries that are as hard to guess the ending, then I would say the series would be book-club worthy. I’ll add the first Jenny Cain mystery to my to-read list and let you know more after I read that one.
This is the 9th book in the Jenny Cain mysteries. Normally, I would not pick up a book that far into a series as my first book, but my local library was having an adult reading program that I couldn’t refuse – a blind date with a book. I had to pick out a book that was covered in brown paper, read it and write a review. There will be a raffle for a winner out of the reviews. This is the book I ended up with for my “blind date.”
I wasn’t very interested in the book in the beginning. There was a lot of description and internal monologue. Plus, I guessed a few things right off the bat that led me to think I would be able to guess the ending easily. I was happy to end up wrong on that point. As they mystery unraveled, my guesses turned out to be wrong and I ended up being fairly surprised at the end.
I did like the characters in this book, which leads me to believe I would have enjoyed it even more if I had started at the beginning of the series and knew more of the background of the cop, his wife and their friends. If the rest of the books in this series are mysteries that are as hard to guess the ending, then I would say the series would be book-club worthy. I’ll add the first Jenny Cain mystery to my to-read list and let you know more after I read that one.
March 24, 2026
This was a hard book to get into. It seemed that it was just going to go on about how teenagers, especially males, suck at making responsible choices. True, but it was getting pretty heavy-handed. Somewhere along the way, though, the story started to evolve and became far more complex than I expected. It's much darker than the previous books, but we learn more about the main characters. I can't really say I liked it, but it was an interesting story.
December 9, 2014
A marked improvement in the series.
This is part of a series of books about Jenny Cain and her police detective husband Geoff. In most of the books, Cain runs a philanthropical organization. In this book, she has left the foundation and is casting about for the finances to start another foundation in order to help the people of the New England seaport city of Port Frederick.
While this is happening her husband has a mysterious visit from a teenage boy who claims that Geoff is his biological father and he wants nothing to do with Geoff except that he use his position as a policeman to re-investigate the murder-suicide of his parents and come up with a different conclusion.
This novel is mostly notable for the fact that its author makes a serious effort to raise the bar in this series of run-of-the-mill mysteries. What she's created here is an actual novel - full of themes and interesting trips into her character's psyches. This book has all of the necessary ingredients for a book discussion group. I was pleasantly surprised.
The only quibble I have with the book is...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
This is part of a series of books about Jenny Cain and her police detective husband Geoff. In most of the books, Cain runs a philanthropical organization. In this book, she has left the foundation and is casting about for the finances to start another foundation in order to help the people of the New England seaport city of Port Frederick.
While this is happening her husband has a mysterious visit from a teenage boy who claims that Geoff is his biological father and he wants nothing to do with Geoff except that he use his position as a policeman to re-investigate the murder-suicide of his parents and come up with a different conclusion.
This novel is mostly notable for the fact that its author makes a serious effort to raise the bar in this series of run-of-the-mill mysteries. What she's created here is an actual novel - full of themes and interesting trips into her character's psyches. This book has all of the necessary ingredients for a book discussion group. I was pleasantly surprised.
The only quibble I have with the book is...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
August 1, 2022
I enjoyed the stuffy, prickly liberal feminism and also the provocative poking around religion. The crimes were imaginative, but the solutions weren’t surprising. The investigation bothered me though. Most of the helpful clues they get all too easily. There is one person of interest who I wanted them to talk to much sooner but Jenny doesn’t get around to it until near the end, and then this person who has the most messed up secrets of all is just like, oh yeah, here’s the big secret on a big silver platter full of evidence. Also, there’s all this stuff like, “I didn’t know that this would change our lives forever “ but then it all seemed to work out with very little life-changing consequences, I thought. I guess that’s all relative. I would try another in this series but I am not going out looking for it. I found this one in a bag of old crime books behind the couch —they’re all from my mother-in-law — and it was pink and said confession in big letters and I thought it might get spicy. It didn’t. It was fun though.
March 20, 2026
I can’t give this more than one star. Jenny Cain’s shrill feminism grated on me from the start, and the dialogue she and her cop husband share about her slightly overweight friend left me genuinely angry. This is a mid-90s book that reads like it was written in the mid-60s—or earlier. Here’s a sample of what struck me as blatant body-shaming:
“After a couple of blocks of congenial, if highly charged, silence, he suddenly said, ‘“When’s Ginger going to lose weight?’
‘Why do you care?’
‘It’s annoying,’ he said.
‘Well, how inconsiderate of her to annoy you with those extra pounds of hers. I’ll have to ask her to stop that. Give her a break; she’s lonely, Geof.’
‘Oh, please.’
‘Oh, please what?’
‘You’re saying she eats because she doesn’t have a man?’
‘No, I’m not saying that’
‘It’s true, though, isn’t it? Ginger doesn’t consider herself to be good enough company all by herself. So what’s she doing about it? Making life more interesting for herself by expanding her knowledge or her experience? Or maybe going into therapy to find out what’s wrong with her? Hell, no. Looks to me like she has decided that the only cure for loneliness is having a man and the cure for being without a man is to put on enough extra pounds to equal the entire weight of one. She’s turning into two people, each of them weighing about ninety pounds, maybe a hundred.’
‘I am not going to react to this meanness!’
‘Mean? You think I’m being mean?’
“After we drove a block in silence, I said, ‘It would have to be a very small man.’
'What?’
‘The extra weight that Ginger is adding.’
‘I’m mean?’ He smiled a little. ‘Listen, I’m sorry I picked on your friend. I don’t know why I’m taking it out on her.’
‘She’s a big target?’
‘Jenny!’
“I retorted pointedly, ‘Just kidding.’
“He glanced at me. ‘All right, I get it.’ And then he patted his own stomach, which was not as flat as it used to be. ‘And I’ve got my own.’
‘“Does that mean you’re lonely?’
‘Will you stop?’
I assume this is meant to come across as light-hearted, loving banter between the cop and his suddenly detestable wife—qualities I don’t recall seeing in earlier books in the series.
The book opens on a romantic, lazy Sunday morning for Jenny and Geof. That’s the day a teenager on a motorcycle roars into their lives and changes everything. His name is David, and he bluntly informs Geof that he’s his biological son. David isn’t interested in bonding with dear old bio-dad; he wants Geof to reopen the case that ruled his father murdered his mother before turning the gun on himself. The kid insists there’s no way his dad would have done it. Geof reluctantly agrees, and of course amateur sleuth Jenny jumps in too.
To pressure them into taking his case seriously, David (apparently) starts leaving dead animals around the yard and even inside the hood of Jenny’s car—roadkill like a possum one morning for Geof to dispose of, then a squirrel later. Handling mangled critter bits is gross, no question, but Jenny responds by declaring something along the lines of “I am woman, hear me roar.” Seriously? Equating scooping up dismembered squirrel remains with Helen Reddy’s 1970s feminist anthem felt forced and over-the-top. Moments like that cropped up throughout, turning what could have been tense, creepy harassment into eye-rolling preachiness.
There’s a dull subplot about Jenny—fresh off quitting her job as a foundation director—wanting to start her own. Her circle of women friends wastes pages speculating about the foundation’s name and mission. I couldn’t have cared less.
Inevitably, the plot veers into an unorthodox religious group that beats members as penance. We get way more detail on their dynamics than anyone needs. And David’s grandmother on his mother’s side? What a nightmare.
Bottom line: nearly four hours of listening at 2.8× speed I’ll never get back. I’d enjoyed the earlier books in the series thoroughly, so I couldn’t believe how many wrong turns this one took. This installment embittered me enough that I’m not sure I’ll ever pick up another Jenny Cain mystery, even though I’ve read them out of order and loved every one up to now.
“After a couple of blocks of congenial, if highly charged, silence, he suddenly said, ‘“When’s Ginger going to lose weight?’
‘Why do you care?’
‘It’s annoying,’ he said.
‘Well, how inconsiderate of her to annoy you with those extra pounds of hers. I’ll have to ask her to stop that. Give her a break; she’s lonely, Geof.’
‘Oh, please.’
‘Oh, please what?’
‘You’re saying she eats because she doesn’t have a man?’
‘No, I’m not saying that’
‘It’s true, though, isn’t it? Ginger doesn’t consider herself to be good enough company all by herself. So what’s she doing about it? Making life more interesting for herself by expanding her knowledge or her experience? Or maybe going into therapy to find out what’s wrong with her? Hell, no. Looks to me like she has decided that the only cure for loneliness is having a man and the cure for being without a man is to put on enough extra pounds to equal the entire weight of one. She’s turning into two people, each of them weighing about ninety pounds, maybe a hundred.’
‘I am not going to react to this meanness!’
‘Mean? You think I’m being mean?’
“After we drove a block in silence, I said, ‘It would have to be a very small man.’
'What?’
‘The extra weight that Ginger is adding.’
‘I’m mean?’ He smiled a little. ‘Listen, I’m sorry I picked on your friend. I don’t know why I’m taking it out on her.’
‘She’s a big target?’
‘Jenny!’
“I retorted pointedly, ‘Just kidding.’
“He glanced at me. ‘All right, I get it.’ And then he patted his own stomach, which was not as flat as it used to be. ‘And I’ve got my own.’
‘“Does that mean you’re lonely?’
‘Will you stop?’
I assume this is meant to come across as light-hearted, loving banter between the cop and his suddenly detestable wife—qualities I don’t recall seeing in earlier books in the series.
The book opens on a romantic, lazy Sunday morning for Jenny and Geof. That’s the day a teenager on a motorcycle roars into their lives and changes everything. His name is David, and he bluntly informs Geof that he’s his biological son. David isn’t interested in bonding with dear old bio-dad; he wants Geof to reopen the case that ruled his father murdered his mother before turning the gun on himself. The kid insists there’s no way his dad would have done it. Geof reluctantly agrees, and of course amateur sleuth Jenny jumps in too.
To pressure them into taking his case seriously, David (apparently) starts leaving dead animals around the yard and even inside the hood of Jenny’s car—roadkill like a possum one morning for Geof to dispose of, then a squirrel later. Handling mangled critter bits is gross, no question, but Jenny responds by declaring something along the lines of “I am woman, hear me roar.” Seriously? Equating scooping up dismembered squirrel remains with Helen Reddy’s 1970s feminist anthem felt forced and over-the-top. Moments like that cropped up throughout, turning what could have been tense, creepy harassment into eye-rolling preachiness.
There’s a dull subplot about Jenny—fresh off quitting her job as a foundation director—wanting to start her own. Her circle of women friends wastes pages speculating about the foundation’s name and mission. I couldn’t have cared less.
Inevitably, the plot veers into an unorthodox religious group that beats members as penance. We get way more detail on their dynamics than anyone needs. And David’s grandmother on his mother’s side? What a nightmare.
Bottom line: nearly four hours of listening at 2.8× speed I’ll never get back. I’d enjoyed the earlier books in the series thoroughly, so I couldn’t believe how many wrong turns this one took. This installment embittered me enough that I’m not sure I’ll ever pick up another Jenny Cain mystery, even though I’ve read them out of order and loved every one up to now.
June 23, 2017
A teenage boy shows up on the doorstep and changes the game for Jenny Cain.
August 2, 2017
I have enjoyed Pickard's later works and this one held out to the end. However it did seem to drag at times to move towards the resolution of the mystery.
July 2, 2020
Pretty good story telling; just nothing spectacular.
June 2, 2022
This was an excellent story, although sad. Thank you Nancy!
March 23, 2024
This book was confusing at times but the pieces all fell together and my questions were answered at the end.
January 14, 2008
I think someone who has a lot of time on their hands should read this book. It is very confusing at first because it is mostly jenny talking about her past for the first to chapters. It also has a weird plot. I liked it a lot though because its a comical suspense and I really do like the story line.
The story is about a woman named Jenny and her husband Geof who find out years later that Geof has a son named David. David wants Geof to find out what really happened to his parents ron and judy. About a year before Ron mayor killed his wife and then killed himself but David doesn't think this is true. It slowly turns into a cruel sick game putting Jenny and Geof's life in jeopardy. Geof soon realizes that all David wants to do is make geof and jenny find out that he killed his parents.
This book was really weird and different. I started reading it for the second time and learned new things that i didn't get the first time I read it. As I as I said people who have a lot of time on their hands should read this book because it does take a while to read.
The story is about a woman named Jenny and her husband Geof who find out years later that Geof has a son named David. David wants Geof to find out what really happened to his parents ron and judy. About a year before Ron mayor killed his wife and then killed himself but David doesn't think this is true. It slowly turns into a cruel sick game putting Jenny and Geof's life in jeopardy. Geof soon realizes that all David wants to do is make geof and jenny find out that he killed his parents.
This book was really weird and different. I started reading it for the second time and learned new things that i didn't get the first time I read it. As I as I said people who have a lot of time on their hands should read this book because it does take a while to read.
July 7, 2008
CONFESSION - VG
Pickard, Nancy - 9th ins series
Jenny Cain would never forget the hot Massachusetts summer day fate knocked at her door. Fate was a teenaged boy with rumpled clothes, a motorcycle, and a shocking byt credible story: Jenny's husband, Geof, was his biological father. The boy, David Mayer, wasn't looking for an emotional reunion, but he did have an agenda. His parents--and he was quick to make the point, that Geof was nothing to him--died earlier in the year, a murder/suicide according to the police. The cops were wrong, David said, and Geof was a cop, and he owed it to David to prove that Ron Mayer did not kill his invalid wife and then himself.
As David lured Jenny and Geof to carefully placed clues, including two bizarre videotaped confessions of "sin," another murder was committed. And Jenny knew that no matter what the truth was about David Mayer's parents, her own life and marriage would be altered forever....
It's a little light but well done and a good series.
Pickard, Nancy - 9th ins series
Jenny Cain would never forget the hot Massachusetts summer day fate knocked at her door. Fate was a teenaged boy with rumpled clothes, a motorcycle, and a shocking byt credible story: Jenny's husband, Geof, was his biological father. The boy, David Mayer, wasn't looking for an emotional reunion, but he did have an agenda. His parents--and he was quick to make the point, that Geof was nothing to him--died earlier in the year, a murder/suicide according to the police. The cops were wrong, David said, and Geof was a cop, and he owed it to David to prove that Ron Mayer did not kill his invalid wife and then himself.
As David lured Jenny and Geof to carefully placed clues, including two bizarre videotaped confessions of "sin," another murder was committed. And Jenny knew that no matter what the truth was about David Mayer's parents, her own life and marriage would be altered forever....
It's a little light but well done and a good series.
September 17, 2015
Jenny Cain mystery, as the story unfolds, she is a well-to-do woman trying to start her own charitable foundation. The author inserts clues about "darkness" but the crux is not revealed to the very end. She becomes more involved,and likeable, as she is revealed to be a married woman who is suddenly confronted by a teenager claiming to be her husbands son.
He husbands profession, he police, is the main reason the son has appeared. His "real" parents recently perished in what was portrayed as a murder-suicide pact! However the involvement of a sect or cult complicates the picture. Since the husband seems to believe this might be his son, he takes on the investigation. I liked Jenny more and more as the novel unfolded, and did not foresee the dramatic reveal at the end! Great job!
He husbands profession, he police, is the main reason the son has appeared. His "real" parents recently perished in what was portrayed as a murder-suicide pact! However the involvement of a sect or cult complicates the picture. Since the husband seems to believe this might be his son, he takes on the investigation. I liked Jenny more and more as the novel unfolded, and did not foresee the dramatic reveal at the end! Great job!
March 2, 2024
2021: Looks like I missed the last few of this series, and I don't know how. Ms Pickard was once one of my favorite writers, and I am really enjoying reading these...although I think I'll go back and start and the beginning of this series of hers.
2024: Well, I ran across something I'd missed before...a half-page rant because one of the heroine's best friends, who had just written her a HUGE check for her foundation was gaining weight. The "heroine's" husband said "It's annoying". And while the main character seems to side with the friend, she ends up making a couple "fat" jokes, too. It has nothing to do with the story, adds nothing, subtracts a LOT. Shame on you (Nancy Pickard) for putting this in.
2024: Well, I ran across something I'd missed before...a half-page rant because one of the heroine's best friends, who had just written her a HUGE check for her foundation was gaining weight. The "heroine's" husband said "It's annoying". And while the main character seems to side with the friend, she ends up making a couple "fat" jokes, too. It has nothing to do with the story, adds nothing, subtracts a LOT. Shame on you (Nancy Pickard) for putting this in.
September 26, 2013
Just when you think Cain’s mystery series couldn’t get any better: WHAM! PAU! BOOM! Played impeccably well in the well known town of “Poor Fred”, any wife’s nightmare comes true: a teenager knocking at your door claiming he is your husband’s son. AAAuuuuu! A prominent construction company turned out to be a bunch of weird, religious-scary- twisted-cult group family. Judy Baker’s story is gripping, chilling, shocking and sad. I don’t know why, but I often think about her; so vulnerable, so innocent, so ruined. This mystery will have you thinking long after you close the book.
December 8, 2013
Jenny Cain and her husband are at home when a young man rings the doorbell and changes their lives. He announces that he has learned that Jenny's husband Geoff is his real father. He wants him to investigate the death of his mother and "father" which was ruled a murder suicide. He insists that it was murder and Geoff owes it to him to solve the case. This starts them on a path that is suspenseful, mysterious and weird. Ms. Pickard is a genius and it comes out as she weaves an intricate tale. Very good.
October 6, 2011
meh. It was engaging enough that I *had* to finish it, but it was somewhat unsatisfying. The characters did not seem to have clear and compelling motivations for their actions (even after they were revealed and the mystery resolved). This is the first Pickard book I've read. I will try another in her Jenny Cain series, but if I detect a similar lack of character development, I will be quicker to put it away.
February 8, 2012
#9 in the Jenny Cain mystery series. Set in the small town of Port Frederick, MA, Jenny and her police detective husband find themselves involved in another murder mystery. A 16 year old claiming to be her husband's son demands of him to reopen the murder suicide of his parents to prove it wasn't done by his father. The story is a tangle that has to be untangled and involves confessions and what happens because of them.
August 11, 2013
Nancy Pickard is fun to read and this one has an engaging plot at the beginning, but flags partway through when you're sure you know how it's going to turn out. And it DOES turn out that way but with some grotesque twists that you don't anticipate. A fast read with psychological insight that puts it a bit above the norm for this genre. Sort of a dark cozy, if that makes any sense - the crew of girlfriends and the sexy cop husband are the cozy part, spiced up with some darkness.
December 16, 2008
Jenny Cain and her husband Geof are surprised one day when a 17 year old boy shows up on their door step claiming to be Geof's son. He wants Geof, who is a cop, to prove that his father didn't murder his mother and then commit suicide. The book wandered too much into weird discussions of religion and had a very depressing ending. I've read other books in the Jenny Cain series and liked them.
July 12, 2009
It's emotionally tough times for Jenny when her husband Geof's long-lost son (i.e., his existence was previously unknown to Jenny) shows up on their doorstep. The young man's backstory is as troubling as it is complex, and there's an additional death in short order. Jenny really shows her mettle here.
September 15, 2009
this is one of the Jenny Cain series featuring her and Geof, her policeman husband. A teenager, David Mayer, says that Geof is his biological father so they have to investigate this claim and David's family--a construction team with a religious cult background. Rather hard to swallow, in some places.
September 10, 2012
I haven’t had my hands on a Pickard mystery in a long time; but because she writes a series of culinary mysteries I was thinking culinary=light-hearted. I forgot that the Jenny Cain stories are serious novels. Very well written and with believable characters, although the plot—or rather, the story—is very disturbing. It’s time to pick up some more Pickard.
February 5, 2010
I needed a good break from the classic lit I've been torturing myself with all winter, so I picked up this mystery. It's greeaaat. As the reviews promised, it had a fascinating, believable plot, an intriguing heroine and a conclusion that I truly didn't see coming. A rare find.
February 15, 2014
Very suspenseful.
Cop married to Jenny Cain may be the father of a teenage boy whose parents just murder/suicided.
Strange religion involving corporal punishment.
Jenny is starting a foundation in town.
Cop married to Jenny Cain may be the father of a teenage boy whose parents just murder/suicided.
Strange religion involving corporal punishment.
Jenny is starting a foundation in town.
September 22, 2014
Jenny is stunned when her husband's long-lost son shows up. His mother has been killed. Helping him out gets them involved with a strict religious group that may prove deadly.
January 15, 2008
there is a lot of sarcasm in this book, and the characters remind me of me and my friends a little. it has comical and suspense throughout the whole book. VERY COOL :)
February 6, 2008
I love the Jenny Cain books! I re-read them all the time!
July 14, 2008
This is the first Jenny Cain book I've read. I like her character but the story was a bit meh for me.
August 13, 2008
Some things may be really hard to understand. There may come a point in time when you have to face the truth. But always remember, truth never fails and it will always prevail.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews