Part of Series
Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, the charming little hamlet of Alpine is welcoming Thanksgiving with open arms, while Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, feels her spirits sink. There will be no family and no friends—not even Sheriff Milo Dodge—to share the day. How, she wonders, has she managed to screw up her life so badly? But on the Monday after the holiday, a call from Sheriff Dodge concerning a trio of alarming unsigned letters he has received leaves Emma no time to wallow. The writer asserts the wrongful murder conviction ten years ago of Larry Petersen, a onetime Alpine resident who has recently died in prison. The real culprit, the letters declare, has made a deathbed confession of the crime. Neither Emma nor Milo recognizes the repentant killer’s name. Even Emma’s stalwart House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, from whom no Alpine secrets are hid, is baffled. They decide that the whole thing must be a twisted prank. Then a fourth letter arrives, threatening that if swift action isn’t taken to right this alleged perversion of justice there will be another death—most likely Emma’s or Milo’s. As rumors of a coming homicide spread along Front Street, a ripple of panic runs through the Valley of the Sky. Is Milo the real target? Is Emma in danger? Should Vida run for cover under one of her biggest hats?
Author
Seattle native Mary Richardson Daheim has been fascinated by story-telling since early childhood. She first listened, then read, and finally began to write her own fiction when she was ten. A journalism major at the University of Washington, she was the first female editor of The Daily where she attracted national attention with her editorial stance against bigotry. After getting her B.A., she worked in newspapers and public relations, but in her spare time she tried her hand at novels. In 1983, Daheim’s first historical romance was published, followed by a half-dozen more before she switched genres to her original fictional love, mysteries. Just Desserts and Fowl Prey, the first books of thirty in the Bed-and-Breakfast series were released in 1991. A year later, the Emma Lord series made its debut with The Alpine Advocate. Daheim has also written several short stories for mystery anthologies and magazines. Married to professor emeritus and playwright David Daheim, the couple lives in Seattle and has three grown daughters. She has been an Agatha Award nominee, winner of the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Achievement Award, and her mysteries regularly make the USA Today bestseller list and the New York Times top thirty.
