The Fatal Heir

Gillian Jones is a thirty-three-year-old probation officer. A few years previous, she survived a car accident that shattered her ankle and her first marriage. Now she's remarried and walking again and life would be perfect—if only she could get pregnant.

Fortunately, one of the Jackson County commissioners from Bend Brook, Nebraska, hatches a plan that will enable Gillian and her husband, Clint, to afford the next step in fertility treatment: Howard Mehrman wants Gillian to locate the biological parents of his adopted daughter, Caroline. With only one concrete fact to go on—Caroline was left at a Colorado monastery in 1967—Gillian heads for Aspen. Unfortunately, no one at the monastery remembers any such event—or so they say. When a monk goes missing and the woman who is sleeping in the bed reserved for Gillian is murdered, Gillian has second thoughts. She can't turn back, though, since most of Bend Brook has taken bets on whether she'll be able to solve the case.

As she uncovers past events that lead to the discovery of Caroline's true identity, Gillian realizes that sometimes the perfect family might be the one you already have. . .