by Peggy McClurken (Author)
Tongues are wagging in the little mountain lake town of Union Gap when Hobart Castlebury, the eccentric new owner of the mysterious Stonewall Mansion, announces his arrival from New York City with flagrant finger gestures and a buck naked cannonball plunge into Big Gap Lake. The once-stately mansion, with secrets dating back to the mid-1800s is the site of the recent murder of Castlebury's wife, Ruby Rosa. The couple are renowned stage performers, and their protégé, Erik Reno, is the primary suspect in Ruby's murder.
Investigative Reporter Maggie McGuire, co-owner of the town's weekly Lakeside Ledger, wants the "scoop" and enlists the help of her friend, bookstore owner Happy O'Hurley. But even as the town comes together to welcome their new neighbor, there's trouble brewing in the form of a second murder and a mysterious cache of missing diamonds. And Reno, who's in the thick of it all, is missing.
There's also romance in the air when the shy bistro owner Fern Finfrock finds love for the first time with Happy's nephew Kyle, an aspiring novelist, while the beautiful Ally Murphy, the Ledger's intern, navigates the competing romantic advances of the charming personal assistant to Castlebury and the handsome federal agent in town investigating a link to a noted crime family in New York.
Who says nothing ever happens in a small town?