Darcy Campbell might have expected life in a small Oklahoma town nestled in the beautiful Ozark foothills to be as idyllic as the scenery. That, however, is not what she finds when she returns to her hometown of Levi after the death of her husband.One autumn morning, Darcy and her mother, Flora Tucker, are enjoying a cup of coffee in their hundred-year old farmhouse when Darcy gets an urgent … Darcy gets an urgent telephone call. The contractor who is digging the foundation for their new home insists that Darcy drop everything and come to the building site as quickly as she can. He has found a mysterious object deep in a hand-dug well and he needs Darcy’s help in retrieving it.
The ancient, crumbling package pulled from the well contains two items that are as shocking as they are inscrutable. In trying to decipher the meaning of these long-buried objects, Darcy and Flora discover a dark secret from their family’s past.
A kidnapping, a brush with death, and a stranger’s greed add to the mix. The era of World
War I becomes enmeshed with the present day as Darcy and Flora unravel a tangled web of deceit that has ensnared their family.
Volume 3 of the Darcy & Flora cozy mystery series.
more
This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. This is the second book by this author I have listened to and I think I enjoyed this book more than book two, I did enjoy both but I think this one contains more mystery. It was interesting to learn about the characters past and it had me hooked right from the start. I liked the characters in the previous book but with this one I felt more attached and cared about what happened to them. The mystery was good and it felt like there was several cases or situations going on at once, so held my attention the whole way through and I am looking forward to starting the next book.
Darcy is called early one morning to a long ago forgotten well on her land that she and her mother have big plans for. The builder has uncovered the well to find something stuck in there and hoping it is hidden gold he needs help reaching it. With this discovery Flora and Darcy find themselves on another case, this one involving themselves. A gun was wrapped up in the sheep’s skin but it is the faded wording that left an imprint, which has them reeling and questioning everything they thought they knew about there past. The old timers of the village aren’t talking and are in fact telling them to leave it alone but a mystery that involves themselves is to important to ignore. At the same time a property developer makes an offer on there land and a lady turns up claiming to be the rightful owner of the land. What is going on? Why has the piece of land there were planning to build there new land on suddenly become so popular? And is it all connected? The pair will have to dodge bullets, poisonings and kidnappings to get to the bottom of this little mystery.
Michelle Babb is a great choice for this series (or In fact any series) because she brings a lot of enjoyment to the table with her pleasant voice and excellent individual voices for the characters.
Flora and Darcy are excited about building their new home on Flora’s mother’s property. While covering up an abandoned well on the property a package containing old gun is found. Also inside the package appears to be some kind of writing. Darcy deciphers the writing to realize this was information about a secret marriage of her grandmother. Also suddenly there are multiple people interested in this property. Does this secret marriage and sudden interest in their property have a connection?
This mother and daughter duo have a wonderful relationship and work well together while investigating their family’s history. I really like that Flora doesn’t discourage Darcy even though she was clearly upset in finding out that her mother kept a really big secret from her. This is a very enjoyable storyline and mystery. There are several twists and turns throughout the story to keep the reader pondering what is really going on with the family property? I really loved how the past and present are brought together to create this wonderful mystery.
I listened to an audio version of this book. Narrator Michelle Babb allows us to experience Flora and Darcy’s discoveries on another level. Babb has great diction, accents, pace, and adds an emotional voice to help bring the story to life.
I recommend this book to mystery lovers. If you have access to the audio version I definitely recommend this version of the book. I was provided with a copy of this book in hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way influenced by others.