Guilt, religion, love and death. Northampton, Massachusetts, writer Rita Bleiman takes it all on in her latest novel.

“Acts of Contrition” — the next book in NEPR’s Summer Fiction series — is set in Washington, D.C., in 1972, and it’s a follow-up to Bleiman’s first novel, “Dirty Tricks.”

The main character, Gloria Warren, left her home in Dallas for the nation’s capitol, where she works in a Senate office. But Bleiman says politics is only the backdrop as Gloria’s personality leads her into a dangerous situation.