Her husband died in a plane crash on Mount Blanc. It was a tragic accident.

These are the simple facts.

Except someone''s not telling the truth . . .

After nine months of sorrow and grief, Junie Lagarde - a brilliant forensic accountant and passionate guitarist - is gradually accepting life without her beloved husband Olivier, a French safety consultant and climate-change expert, whom she lost in a tragic plane accident over Mont Blanc. If only she could have found her loyal hearing-dog Leo, who ran off in the terrifying aftermath of the crash, before she had to return home to America. But then Junie receives an unexpected call from France . . .

Capitaine Philippe Brevard, the man in charge of investigating Olivier''s death, has seen recent CCTV footage which shows Leo being held by a man who closely resembles Olivier . . . right down to his distinctive jacket.

It''s not Olivier. It can''t be . . . can it? But who is the man - and what else is Capitaine Brevard hiding from her? Junie knows she must go to Chamonix, rescue her dog, and uncover the truth . . . but there are those who mean her harm, and soon Junie''s learning dangerous secrets. Secrets that will shake her faith in her closest friends and put more than just her own life in the gravest of danger.

The Beautiful Risk is an intelligent, thought-provoking standalone thriller from internationally bestselling author Lynn Hightower.

It''s a story of grief, of a dangerous mountain with a dark history, of corruption and greed, of ecoterrorism . . . and of a vulnerable woman with hearing loss, an injured dog and a broken heart, who''ll stop at nothing to uncover the truth.