When Nora Sheldon’s husband is kidnapped while they’re on their honeymoon, all her hopes and plans tumble into a nightmare. Then the FBI comes knocking. Turns out Nora doesn’t know her husband as well as she thought she did, and the feds are equally anxious about Skip’s fate. Is Skip Sheldon a con man or some kind of Robin Hood or simply misunderstood? And if he really loved her, why did he drag her into this mess? She’d interrogate and then throttle him herself (and save his kidnappers the trouble) if she could—but she’s not so sure he’s still alive to bear the brunt of her worry. Nora and her stalwart executive assistant, Clarice, seek refuge on one of Skip’s properties—an abandoned poor farm on the edge of the Dark Divide in Washington State—to wait for a ransom call and entertain obnoxious FBI agents. Can Nora wriggle through the maze of Skip’s accounts and questionable acquaintances before she falls under suspicion herself? And for what crimes, exactly? She wishes she knew.

When Nora Ingram-Sheldon learns her fugitive criminal husband had (has?) his crooked fingers in even more May County, Washington businesses, and that his involvement puts her new friends and neighbors at risk, what can she do but go on the hunt—for answers, for culprits, and for cracks she can widen in his many-tentacled money laundering enterprise? But an omnipresent FBI security detail puts a damper on her movements, plus she’s supposed to be a good example for the band of misfit boys in foster care at Mayfield’s poor farm. Maybe undercover is the way to go. Can she sneak away from her faithful executive assistant, Clarice, and Walt Neftali, the boys’ guardian? The tricky part is finding and putting her husband’s gangster clients out of commission before they do the same to her.

When an expansion project results in the discovery of a priceless trove of stolen artwork, Nora Ingram-Sheldon learns just how personal her criminal fugitive husband's quest is. Clues are dropping into place as even more pop up. But can she trust Skip to feed her the information she needs to keep the boys' camp at Mayfield safe, even as the number of boys under Walt Neftali’s care increases? And what is she supposed to do with her newly-arrived, newly twelve-stepping mother-in-law in the wilds of Washington State’s backwoods? Bolstered by the support and sharp eye of her executive assistant, Clarice, and her nosy cadre of neighbors, Nora hurries to fit the disparate pieces together while attempting to evade her husband's increasingly impatient, revenge-seeking former clients.

Nora Ingram-Sheldon's family history is coming back to haunt her–in the form of threatening mob enforcers and extortion, putting all she holds dear in peril. Turns out her connections with organized crime aren't just complements of her marriage to Skip Sheldon. Her father may also have a dark past. But since Alzheimer's prevents him from helping his only daughter, Nora has to scan her own memories. Does she know the mobster who has her in his sights? How will she compete with a ruthless man whose heavy-handed tactics have garnered power over the farthest stretches of society–from the lowest, back-alley gambling joints to the upper crust of politicians and wealthy philanthropists? And can she protect the growing number of castaway boys sheltered on her remote Mayfield poor farm property?

Summoned to a conference with a loathsome biker gang president, Nora learns her phantom money-laundering husband is striking fear into the hearts (and guts) of his former clients. Can she capitalize on their trepidation without getting sucked into the criminal network’s implosion or facing retaliation herself for the ambitious plans Skip still has up his sleeve? And what about gangster Numero Uno, the reclusive big cheese at the top of the West Coast’s organized crime pyramid? Can Nora lure him into the crossfire and rub out the aristocratic thug who is so carefully concealed behind his army of accountants and knee-bashers? Nora’s only goal is to secure tranquility for Walt and the foster boys in residence on the Mayfield poor farm. But what will it take to earn her own freedom? Tried & True is the final installment in the Mayfield Cozy Mystery Series.