Counterfeit Hope
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Trapped by their pasts, is there hope for a future?
When Secret Service operative Andrew Darlington is brought in to support a US Marshal case involving counterfeiters in rural Indiana, he thinks it's simply the next rung on his climb to the top of his career. But liars can only climb so high--and Andrew is keeping a dangerous secret he doesn't ever want to get out. When he clashes with the criminal family that took over the town of Landkreis and killed the Marshal he was sent to assist, his past life is in danger of being exposed.
Widow "Lightning Lu" Thorne has only one goal: escape the clutches of the Thorne family with her son. Her decision to be an informant and testify against the Thornes looked like the perfect answer. Until the Marshal ended up dead. Now the tether keeping her tied to her felonious family is tightening, and a forced marriage to someone else in the Thornes' clutches threatens to kill any hope of escape.
Andrew and Lu find themselves on the same team--unwillingly. They each believe the other to be the enemy to their future plans. And even if they could learn to work together, the secrets they hold could shatter all hopes and dreams. Despite the encouragement of the local preacher, they're not even sure God can be trusted--much less other humans. Can either of them escape their past--and the family that is willing to kill their own when they smell betrayal?
On the heels of her smashing debut, this second entry in Crystal Caudill's historical series maintains the excitement that readers of Michelle Griep, Liz Tolsma, and Elizabeth Camden will love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the captivating second installment of the Hidden Hearts of the Gilded Age series, Caudill (Counterfeit Hope) chronicles the misadventures of a reluctant member of a 19th-century crime family. "Lightning" Lu Thorne is among the best pickpockets in the Thorne Gang—a family criminal operation willing to kill, rob, and maim to maintain power in Landkreis, Ind. After Lu's husband, Irvine Thorne, is killed in a heist—and now that she's found faith in God—Lu is desperate to leave town with her son, Oscar, and give him "the life she'd never had." Her plans are put on hold when the U.S. marshal who'd promised to smuggle Lu and Oscar out in exchange for inside information on the Thornes is killed by Lu's mother-in-law. Then Secret Service officer Andrew Darlington arrives to investigate the Thornes, and Lu works with him to get her son and herself to safety. Both Lu and Andrew bear deep secrets that challenge their faith as they navigate danger. Though the plot gets off to a slow start, it eventually picks up a full head of steam, and Caudill hooks readers with complex characters and intriguing musings on Christian morality. This suspenseful outing doesn't disappoint.
