Author: sydneytoomanbetts

In April of 1843, Phoebe’s family hears about a murder while they are traveling to their new home in the Shenandoah Valley. They arrive to learn the victim attended the church her father has agreed to pastor and the crime took place on a leading church member’s plantation.Eager to make new friends, Phoebe forms a unique relationship that propels her into the middle of the mystery, and she begins … she begins to question several acquaintances’ motives. Will she uncover their secrets before the plantation owner’s charming son discovers hers? more

In the spring of 1817, Alcy Callen and her father visit a step-uncle they have long presumed dead; but instead of enjoying a loving reunion, they are plunged into treachery and deceit.  Nothing is as they expected and little is what it seems. Even the man who helps her escape is not the reliable suitor he appears. Alcy is caught between gratitude and fear, unable to avoid her rescuer’s … rescuer’s attentions or understand the responses they stir.  Neither can she tell what sort of man he is or what he intends to do with her in the strange place…