Every Last Secret, by Linda Rodriguez

I don't understand how this book could have won the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition or how it got the glowing book jacket blurbs that it did.  There were a few sections where the plot tooled along with enough impetus to overcome my general sense of annoyance about the unreal characters, dreadful dialog, and bizarre storyline of the book.  A homocide detective from Kansas City becomes the head of the campus police at a university and must investigate a student's murder, then his wife's, then a university administrator's.  At the same time she's dealing with a dying father who betrayed her trust, an ex-husband who still gets quite jealous, and a young boy whom she has taken in.