(Subdue) A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne - 3 stars

[Ellen]

In 1973 Marsha was 9 years old living happily with her parents and older twin brother and sister in the quiet neighborhood of Spring Hill. Subtle signs of cracks in her parents marriage began to show and it soon became known that Daddy was having an affair with Mom's younger sister. Eventually he moved out of the house and into a full-blown relationship with Auntie Ada. Marsha was understandably upset and unaccepting that her whole world had changed. It would be further upended when a neighbor boy was found molested and murdered with no suspect in sight. Crimes seemed to be happening constantly in Marsha's eyes: Daddy cheating, her brother and sister shoplifting and smoking, Mom was flirting with the new next door neighbor, and even the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, was under investigation for Watergate. Marsha, always an imaginative child, kept her own evidence notebook, keeping careful eyes on everyone. When she finally settled on her choice of killer she would set in motion circumstances that would haunt her for a lifetime.

This was an interesting book told from the point of view of an adult Marsha 25 years after that fateful summer. It was kind of fun revisiting the 1970's as well.