Grace Kimball, a recently retired teacher in the small town of Endurance,is haunted by a dark event from her past, an experience so terrifying she hasnever been able to put it behind her. Most days, however, she loves her life inher historical town, filled with friends and former students who are funny andsupportive. Among those friends is police detective TJ Sweeney.When Grace’s former colleague … colleague and now shoddy journalist Brenda Norris ismurdered in a suspicious fire, the police have an endless line of suspects. Theeditor of the Endurance Register, Jeff Maitlin, hires Grace to take over Brenda’sjob and write about the town’s history, but neither of them realizes the charmingtown hides people who will do anything to keep their secrets. Grace and Jeff findan undeniable attraction for each other, but Grace knows nothing of the editor’s past,and when suspicious deaths begin to occur, she finds herself wonderingif she can trust this mystery man.Endurance is a picturesque place to live … if you don’t minda dead body or two.
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“Three May Keep a Secret” Earns 5/5 Fiery Memories…Compelling!
A fiery nightmare immediately grabs a reader’s attention, like mine, in Susan Van Kirk’s first book in An Endurance Mystery series. Newly retired teacher Grace Kimball still struggles, after thirty-six years, with memories of the horrific fire that left her with emotional and physical scars and cost the lives of her two college roommates. The emotions become more raw with the recent fire that tragically took the life of Brenda Norris. Brenda was a former colleague, but she was forced to resign due to scandals unbecoming a teacher. She had worked herself up to reporter at the local newspaper, but her reporting style was often more tabloid than truth. Her exposés angered several residents resulting in one filing a lawsuit charging libel. Recently, she had publicly remarked that she was working on a story that would “blow the lid right off this town,” so to Grace her death was automatically suspicious. Evidence confirmed…murder. Grace had hoped to enjoy her retirement, maybe writing a novel, so keeping busy was the challenge she faced. The new “city slicker” editor of the newspaper offered her a bi-weekly column reviewing books, but giving her Brenda’s old office sparked a different path. Filled with files of research, boxes of cold-case reports and evidence, and a few cryptic notes, has led Grace on a journey that literally and figuratively forces her to confront those nightmares. Cold cases. Arson. Secrets. Blackmail. Murder. The perfect subject for front page headlines.
Susan Van Kirk’s well-written and compelling story illustrates well Benjamin Franklin’s quote, “Three may keep a secret…if two of them are dead.” Van Kirk twists together a fascinating cold case, a reporter’s cryptic notes, salacious secrets, greed, and murder all played out with the town’s 175-year anniversary celebration as a backdrop. With vivid description, rich characters, and a complex murder investigation, Van Kirk slowly reveals several fascinating scenarios for the murder, plausible suspects and motives, and a shocking revelation leading to a nail-biting dilemma. Whew! Although tempted to scroll to the end for the conclusion, I resisted. The connections uncovered, interactions among friends, current and long ago clues, and a squeak of the door to reveal…sssh! were deliciously intense and well-worth reading every word. Van Kirk provides chapter titles to alert readers when the third-person narrative changes, and an Epilogue to clean up some loose ends. There is a hint of a possible romance for widowed Grace, feelings and pleasant interactions, but it isn’t really explored in this first book. Being a retired teacher myself, I can personally identify with those first months of retirement wanted to still be involved and relevant along with many of Grace’s comments: seeing former students grown up, remembering what they were like as students, and even surprised about what they’re doing. This book is now a contender for “Top Surprises” of 2021.
Three May Keep a Secret is a terrific read. The protagonist is exceptionally well-drawn–a complex, sympathetic, and engaging character. As an English teacher, I loved the references, but Grace is far more than the sum of her parts. With a compelling backstory and a tightly plotted mystery to solve, Grace kept this reader tuned in from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to reading the next.