Before She Was Helen: A novel

Her life didn’t turn out the way she expected—so she made herself a new one. But can she truly outrun her past? Now in paperback!

When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn't there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful, and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, and an ominous man starts hounding her, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under an alias be ruined by one careless picture?

And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body. . . and she was the last person at the crime scene, where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly thrown into the heart of a twisted investigation, Clemmie finds herself the uncomfortable subject of intense scrutiny. And the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present.

About the Author

CAROLINE B. COONEY is the bestselling author of teen suspense, mystery and romance novels that have sold over 15 million copies worldwide, including The Face on the Milk Carton. Cooney lives in South Carolina.