Julia Heaberlin, author of Playing Dead, on tour June/July 2012

About Playing Dead

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (May 29, 2012)

“Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?”

The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter–and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago.

Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished–and the very real threats that still remain.

“A compelling family mystery that kept me turning the pages. Highly recommended.”–Margaret Maron, New York Times bestselling author of Three Day Town

“[Julia Heaberlin’s] voice is pitch perfect, and her story of one woman’s fierce struggle to reconcile her past with her present is gripping and powerful. An outstanding debut.”–Carla Buckley, author of Invisible

About Julia Heaberlin

Julia Heaberlin was a journalist for more than twenty years for such newspapers at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Detroit News. Playing Dead is her first novel. She lives with her family in Texas, where she is at work on her second book, Lie Still, to be published by Bantam Books.

Connect with Julia on her website, juliaheaberlin.com.