About the Author

Ellen McGarrahan earned a degree in history from Yale and worked as an investigative reporter at newspapers in New York City, Boston, Miami and San Francisco before accidentally finding her calling as a private detective. For two decades her investigations agency has specialized in complex civil and criminal cases ranging from corporate whistleblowing to capital murder. Two Truths and a Lie is her first book.

Reviews

“The experience of inhabiting that investigation with McGarrahan is so intense readers should experience it for themselves. For me, the even deeper draw here is McGarrahan’s struggle to come to terms with the evil she was drawn into as a young reporter.”—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Extremely entertaining . . . McGarrahan’s obsession with rooting out the truth in the case leads her [to] Florida, Ireland and Australia, where she tracks down any detail that might potentially help her know what happened.”—The New York Times

“This riveting read is the memoir of a reporter–turned–private investigator who looks back at the case that snagged her imagination.”—Marie Claire

“[A] compelling true-crime debut.”—Bustle

“A spellbinding memoir . . . Among the truest of true crime stories ever written . . . McGarrahan’s story renders the tawdriness and banality of crime, the frustrating limits of witnesses and evidence, the hazy frontier between truth and lies, the slipperiness of culpability.”—The Washington Post
 
“Both admirable and harrowing . . . I highly recommend Two Truths and a Lie if you’re looking for a gripping, fast-paced book with a thoughtful and insightful premise.”—True Crime Index
 
“In these beautifully written pages we find both a page-turning whodunit and a sobering assessment of the American justice system.”—Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood in the Water

“Two Truths and a Lie is a masterpiece—more honest than In Cold Blood and more profound than The Executioner’s Song. A brilliant addition to the literature of crime and punishment.”—David Von Drehle, New York Times bestselling author of Triangle

“Both mesmerizing page-turner and haunting meditation on various shades of guilt . . . As the best stories do, Two Truths and a Lie leads us through a fascinating case at breakneck speed, until we find ourselves confronting the elusive nature of truth itself.”—Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and the Fly

“My heart was in my throat through each page of this captivating memoir of a private investigator’s search for truth, justice, and resolution.”—Sarah Gerard, author of Sunshine State

“McGarrahan’s eagle eye and relentless drive to learn the truth—whatever it may be—carry us with her on this powerful and fascinating journey.”—Eilene Zimmerman, author of Smacked

“Journalist and private investigator McGarrahan’s debut is an engrossing, authoritative fusion of true crime and memoir . . . An accomplished, unsettling look at a confounding crime and larger issues of memory, culpability, and punishment.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“Riveting . . . gut-wrenchingly good.”—Shelf Awareness