A widowed and unemployed New England journalist decides to dig into a very cold case, in this novel that “zips along like a well-tuned snowmobile” (Anne Hillerman, New York Times–bestselling author of Lost Birds).
Isabel Long has had a bad year. Her husband died unexpectedly, and she lost her longtime job as editor-in-chief of a newspaper. Living with her ninety-two-year-old mother and having some time on her hands, Isabel decides to investigate a cold case—her first big story as an independent reporter—about a woman who disappeared twenty-eight years ago in her small western Massachusetts town.
To research further—and to make ends meet—she takes a job at the local watering hole, where she can get up close and personal with those connected to the mystery. But getting too close to the truth can be dangerous . . .
As a journalist, Isabel never gave up on a story. Now, as an amateur private investigator, she’s not about to go down without a fight, no matter the cost . . .
“A savvy and appealing protagonist.” —Frederick Reiken, author of Day for Night
“A well crafted story with the perfect amount of tension, suspense and delicious intrigue.” —Joy Norstrom, author of Out of Play
“Will keep you guessing right to the end.” —Susan Roebuck, author of Rising Tide
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers, including the Isabel Long Mystery Series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England. She is currently writing the eighth in the series.
She draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist to create Isabel Long, a gutsy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appear to be impossible cases. She also draws on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts to create realistic characters and settings — from country bars (where Isabel works part-time) to a general store’s backroom where gossipy old men meet — for the series and other novels set in that area.
An award-winning journalist, Joan started as a reporter paid by the inch covering the rural hilltowns of Western Massachusetts before working as a columnist and editor. (The experience helped to break a long writer’s block while she raised six children.) She went on to be editor-in-chief of award-winning newspapers in New Mexico and Massachusetts. But she has since left journalism to concentrate on her own writing. She lives in Shelburne Falls, a village in Western Massachusetts.
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