Stephanie Gayle Boeken

"It's two weeks before Christmas 1997, and Police Chief Thomas Lynch faces a crisis when Cody Forrand, a six-year-old with a life-threatening medical condition, goes missing during a blizzard. Lynch's suspicions about who abducted Cody are met with scorn by his detectives, some of whom can't handle the fact that's he's gay. With half the station out sick with the flu, Lynch seeks outside help. It arrives in the shape of an FBI agent for whom Lynch feels an immediate attraction. To complicate matters, local crime is on the rise and Lynch finds himself the target of prank calls and hate speech that he worries is the work of a colleague. Time is ticking away, Lynch is struggling to discover who is behind Idyll's crime spree, and he's beginning to doubt that Cody will ever be found"--

In the summer of 1997, Thomas Lynch arrives as the new chief of police in Idyll, Connecticut—a town where serious crimes can be counted on one hand. So no one is prepared when Cecilia North is found murdered on a golf course. By chance, Chief Lynch met her mere hours before she was killed. With that lead, the case should be a slam dunk. But there’s a problem. If Lynch tells his detectives about meeting the victim, he’ll reveal his greatest secret—he’s gay. So Lynch works angles of the case on his own. Meanwhile, he must contend with pressure from the mayor to solve the crime before the town’s biggest tourist event begins, all while coping with the suspicions of his men, casual homophobia, and difficult memories of his former NYPD partner’s recent death. As the case unfolds, Lynch realizes that small-town Idyll isn’t safe, especially for a man with secrets that threaten the thing he loves most—his job.

The narrative explores the strained relationship between the narrator and their mother, marked by infrequent phone calls that highlight emotional distance. The mother's avoidance of a significant, unacknowledged issue—symbolized by the "pink elephant"—underscores the tension and unspoken truths in their conversations. This poignant dynamic reflects themes of communication, isolation, and the complexities of familial bonds.

"In the small, sleepy town of Idyll, Connecticut, Police Chief Thomas Lynch assists police officer Michael Finnegan to uncover clues to his sister's disappearance two decades ago. Charleston, Massachusetts, 1972: Rookie cop Michael Finnegan gets a call from his mother. His youngest sister, Susan, has disappeared, the same sister who ran away two years earlier. Anxious not to waste police resources, Finnegan advises his family to wait and search on their own. But a week turns into two decades, and Susan is never found. Idyll, Connecticut, 1999: In the woods outside of town, a young woman's corpse is discovered. When Police Chief Thomas Lynch notices that Finnegan seems unusually disturbed by the case, Lynch digs a little deeper and learns of Finnegan's missing sister. Despite their prickly relationship, Lynch makes a bargain with his officer: He will investigate the cold case of Finnegan's long-lost sister while Finnegan looks for clues to the body found in the woods. Both cases reveal old secrets, including revelations about a man everyone thought they knew who was hiding things his entire career"--