Tess Gerritsen has mastered many different genres throughout her career, but it’s always special when she returns to the Boston area for another Rizzoli & Isles novel.

In LISTEN TO ME, the highly anticipated 13th installment in the series, homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are working what appears to be a senseless murder. However, it somehow will be tied to an issue going on in the suburban neighborhood where Jane’s mom, Angela, lives --- and the consequences could be deadly.

"LISTEN TO ME is a fast, fun read with characters we have grown to love and root for as they deal with one of their most personal cases to date."

With chapters told from the perspectives of various characters, readers get to put together the pieces of the mystery as the crimes keep occurring. Early on, we see college student Amy Antrim leave the library in the middle of a wintry mix when she is struck by a vehicle while stepping off the curb. Months later, Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse, is bludgeoned to death in her apartment as the result of an apparent robbery. Jane and her partner, Barry Frost, get the case, which hits home because Sofia was a friend of her mother’s. As they dive into the investigation, Jane and Barry will soon discover a link between the homicide and the hit-and-run incident.

Gerritsen then shifts our attention to Angela Rizzoli. She has a reputation for being the neighborhood busybody, which has been a point of humor in the past. Lately, though, she has been zeroing in on some new neighbors who she simply does not trust. Jonas, the elderly bodybuilder who lives next door to the Greens, has been feeding her paranoia by allowing her to spy on them from his backyard. Angela does not think they are the nice couple they claim to be, but she is having a hard time getting anyone to believe her. However, there may be some legitimacy to her suspicions as Jane’s investigation crosses paths with an old case involving the murder of a college professor.

It’s difficult to go any further without revealing the exciting twists that are in store for readers. What I can say is that LISTEN TO ME is a fast, fun read with characters we have grown to love and root for as they deal with one of their most personal cases to date.