Along the banks of the Ohio River, the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, has been the home of quiet pleasures and safety for Adrienne Reynolds and her fourteen-year-old daughter Skye since the death of Adrienne's husband four years ago. Their sense of safety is shattered, however, when Adrienne and Skye find the body of one of Adrienne's best friends, Julianna, in a once-elegant, now abandoned hotel named La Belle Riviere. La Belle has a long history of misfortunes, but Julianna's murder is the most gruesome.
Evidence indicates Julianna that had a secret lover whom she met regularly in the hotel, and who could have been with her in her final moments. The only person who knows this lover's identity is the hotel caretaker, Claude Duncan. But Claude is quickly silenced-drugged and burned to death in his small cottage on the grounds of La Belle the night after Julianna's death. One by one, people close to Adrienne are brutally murdered, and it looks as though she and Skye are the next targets of a fierce killer with a shocking secret.
Carlene Thompson is the author of Last Whisper, Black for Remembrance, Nowhere to Hide, and Don't Close Your Eyes, among other books. She attended college at Marshall University and earned her Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University. She taught at the University of Rio Grande before leaving to focus on her writing full-time. Besides writing, she spends her time caring for the many dogs and cats she's adopted. A native West Virginian, she lives with her husband Keith in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.