After the Shadows
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A brighter future awaits--if she can escape the shadows of the past
Emily Leland sheds no tears when her abusive husband is killed in a bar fight, but what awaits her back home in Sweetwater Crossing is far from the welcome and comfort she expected. First she discovers her father has died under mysterious circumstances. Then the house where the new schoolteacher and his son are supposed to board burns, leaving them homeless. When Emily proposes turning the family home into a boardinghouse, her sister is so incensed that she leaves town.
Alone and broke, her family name sullied by controversy, Emily is determined to solve the mystery of her father's death--and to aid Craig Ferguson, despite her fears of men. The widowed schoolmaster proves to be a devoted father, an innovative teacher, and an unexpected ally. Together they must work to unmask a killer and escape the shadows of their own pasts in order to forge a brighter future.
Bestselling author Amanda Cabot transports you to 1880s Texas Hill Country for a brand-new series that will have you flipping pages to solve the mystery and get to the happily-ever-after you long for.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cabot (The Spark of Love) unravels the secrets of a Texas town in this intriguing late-1800s romantic mystery. After Emily Vaughn's abusive husband dies in a bar fight, she returns to her Texas hometown, eager to begin life anew. But disaster strikes on her first day back when her minister father dies by apparent suicide, while across town, the widowed Mrs. Carmichael's home burns down. Recalling Jesus's commandment to "care for widows and orphans," Emily offers shelter to Mrs. Carmichael and her boarders, and quickly becomes fond of kindhearted schoolmaster Craig Ferguson and his two-year-old son. Emily soon opens her large home as a boarding house, taking in the new minister's family and Beulah Douglas, a mentally disabled 12-year-old whom Craig welcomes into his school despite townspeople's protests, and whom Emily likewise defends as a child of God. But Beulah has some unexpected secrets that come to the surface as Craig and Emily seek the truth behind Emily's father's death—which she's convinced wasn't a suicide. As the two grow close, they uncover more beneath the town's placid surface than anticipated. Cabot skillfully links diverse plotlines in a tightly woven narrative, putting forth an uplifting message about the value of all human life that's moving without detracting from the plot's suspense. Readers will eagerly await the series' next installment.
