Rachel Myers, who readers first met in Blind Malice, has moved back to her Blue Ridge home in (fictitious) Sheppard County, North Carolina. Rachel feels guilty moving back now, rather than a few years earlier when her elderly father could have used her help, but now she has a good job waiting for her at a high-end retirement community near her hometown. Donna Matheson, Rachel’s longtime friend, alerted her to job. Now that Rachel is back in the area, Donna thinks that she has also found the right man for Rachel–Detective Robby Barnett. This kind of meddling is what old friends do, right?
But the plot in this book centers on a different friendship. Isaac Starling has been the hired man on the Myers farm for decades. He was more than a workman, he was a loyal friend to Rachel’s late father, and Rachel is so fond of him that she wants him to live in the family home with her now. So Rachel can’t refuse Isaac when he asks her to investigate the death of his friend, Jack Whaley. Mr. Whaley’s body was found at the bottom of a cliff along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The authorities think that his death was suicide or an accident, but Isaac can’t accept that. Isaac insists that Jack was an upright man, but under questioning by Rachel he remembers a few occasions when Jack bumped up against some trouble. It’s not much to go on, but Rachel follows those leads–with help from that nice Detective Barnett.
This is the second book in the Rachel Myers Murder Mystery Series. Readers will enjoy learning more about Rachel’s interests; gardeners will particularly appreciate the description of Rachel’s plans for the gardens around her family home.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
