Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781635116304; 9781635116274
Henery Press Publishing
248 Pages
$31.95; $15.95. $6.99 Amazon
July 14, 2020
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When lawyer-turned-farmer Megan Sawyer witnesses a seemingly innocent scene between three strangers, she learns they're headed to the von Tressler memorial -- the talk of scenic Winsome, Pennsylvania. The von Tressler family has more money than manners. The newcomers recently bought coveted hilltop property to build their oversized Greek Revival, tempting away local contractors and snubbing the locals.
Soon one of those three strangers goes missing and another is murdered, her body found at Washington Acres -- Megan's family farm. The local police turn to Megan, as she was one of the last people to have seen them both.
With her family's safety at sake, Megan must pick her way through the von Tressler's sordid family secrets and colorful personalities. She discovers that the malice that's befallen Winsome has roots in the past, and she'll need to dig deep to weed truth from lies and innocence from guilt, or the body count will grow even higher.
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Megan Sawyer is an ex-attorney who left her practice and moved to Winsome, Pennsylvania, to help her grandmother run her family's farm, Washington Acres. She's since then expanded her organic business and is renovating the home next door to become an inn for her farm.
While purchasing potting soil for her grandmother Bibi, she overhears a conversation between three women, one of them crying uncontrollably. It appears they're going to the funeral of David von Tressler, who built a monstrous home nearby; since he and his wife pretty much kept away from the locals, Megan has no plans to attend. But when the women get a flat tire and she's asked to take the youngest of the three, Claire, who was also the crying one, to the funeral, she agrees. After dropping her off at the door, Megan thinks that will be the last of it.
But when Claire never arrived at the funeral, Megan is accused of having something to do with her disappearance. Then, when another sister is murdered and found at the home she's renovating, Megan's right in the middle of a murder investigation. Now, to clear her name, she needs to find the missing woman and find answers as to why the murdered one was left at her farm. But in doing so, Megan might just be the next victim...
I have read the previous books in this series, and have never been disappointed in any of them. This one is no less intriguing than the others. Megan, who is just trying to make a life for herself and Bibi, is finding it harder to do when they're interrupted with a murder victim being found next door. The situation escalates when Megan learns that there's something else afoot, and it also has to do with her, although she has no idea what. Knowing this, it neither arms nor comforts her as she tries to put the pieces together.
There's also the fact that Megan is struggling with her feelings for Denver and being worried about her aging grandmother's health. While she's struggling with these two things as well, she needs to put them aside while she tries to figure out the problems with the death of the woman and the von Tresslers, who are giving no help at all.
Megan, while being warned to stay out of the investigation, knows she can't do that, so starts asking questions on her own. I love the fact that she doesn't go about accusing people of murder, instead gathering information, sharing those facts with police chief Bobby King, and trying to make sense of everything.
What ensues is a convoluted tale of murder, greed, lies, and revenge. It is done masterfully, with Ms. Tyson taking each thread and pulling them slowly together to reveal the tightly woven end result that gives us an ending no one could have seen coming. Finding the killer was both unanticipated and captivating in the fact that it was surprising in itself. While I had my suspicions, I was gratified to see that I was at least partly right.
It also gives us something to look forward to in the next book (which wouldn't have mattered to me anyway since this is one of my favorite series and I have no intention of deserting it), and the fact that this book was so riveting is testament to the fact that Ms. Tyson is one of the most talented writers out there. I eagerly await the next in the series. Highly recommended.
More on Wendy Tyson's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/wendy-tyson/
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