"Fantastic Suspense!"
Mariposa County Sheriff Bill Ashton is the one unlucky
enough to be the sheriff when the five bodies are found in
an out of the way location. Mariposa, California has
always been a small town. The most excitement around the
town was the fighting and small time crime. Nothing this
big has ever happened before. And, of course, it looks
like a professional hit, each of the victims having a
bullet hole in their skulls. As much as he doesn't want
to, he calls in the FBI. With all of this going on, he
really doesn't need any extra work. When a mechanic responds to a call, he finds an
abandoned
car. Not just any car, a little red sports car. When the
mechanic can't find a person, he notices a bag in the
front seat and opens it. When he finds money inside, he
realizes this will help him support his children. Of
course, this only lasts until he gets the threatening call
on the cell phone he also found and took. He takes both
phone and bag to the sheriff. This is exactly what Bill
doesn't need. He runs the registration and finds out the
car belongs to a Air Force Captain and when he informs her
about the car, she immediately drops everything and goes
to Mariposa. Arden Jones can't believe her sister would willingly
leave
this much money and take off. She decides to stay in
Mariposa and find out what she can about her sister, who
is now missing. Of course, the attraction between Arden
and Bill wouldn't have anything to do with her decision. The more investigating the sheriff does, the more he
realizes there is Wiccan magic involved, the candles, the
altar the bodies are found on, all point in that
direction. So now Bill not only has to deal with the FBI
agent, he also to deal with the local Wiccan High
Priestess, not to mention trying to find Arden's sister
and uncovering where the money came from and who it
belongs to. THE SUMMERLAND is a fascinating read. T.L. Schaefer
does
an excellent job of grabbing the reader's attention and
holding it throughout the entire story. The settings of
the story show the author's intimate knowledge of the
area. It's also obvious T.L. Schaefer has done her
homework on the Wiccan religion and psychological aspects
of being a kidnap victim. The characters are all well
fleshed out and believable, right down to Stumpy's "good
old boy" attitude. Arden and Bill are both strong and
perfect for each other. If you enjoy a good suspense
novel, I highly recommend T.L. Schaefer's THE SUMMERLAND!
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted November 7, 2006
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