Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Stranger’s Secrets-Beth Williamson

The Stranger’s Secrets
Beth Williamson
Kensington Brava, Jan 2010, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758234735

In 1875 Sarah Spalding looks forward to seeing her brother Micah for the first time in years as she leaves Virginia for his home in Colorado. Mavis Ledbetter accompanies her on her journey west. Also in their train compartment is Yankee Whitman Kendrick heading to Kansas to marry.

Sarah and Whitman are attracted to one another, but she loathes all Yankees because she lost everything she owned including her ability to walk without a cane due to their invasion. However, when she fires Mavis, Sarah allows Whit to assist her. Soon after letting her companion go, someone murders Mavis with Sarah being the only suspect. She and Whit pretend to be married in a risky effort to root out the real culprit. As they fall in love, his war activity if revealed to her would end their relationship without her taking a look.

This sequel to The Redemption of Micah is a terrific Reconstruction Era romantic suspense starring two great lead characters still struggling with the horrors of the Civil War one decade after the hostilities ended. The story line is driven by the dynamic lead pair who fall in love, but to have a future together must overcome her loathing of everyone Northern and his hiding his war activity from her while also solving the whodunit. Beth Williamson provides a strong Americana thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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