Bitterroot Lake

January 15, 2021
Cooking cozy specialist Leslie Budewitz tries on a new pseudonym and subgenre but retains her favorite setting--Missoula County, Montana--and several other telltale habits. Seventeen days after cancer killed her husband, Sarah McCaskill Carter returns from Seattle to Whitetail Lodge, her childhood home, with a sense of relief that's entirely misplaced. No sooner has she arrived than she finds baker and old friend Janine Chapman cowering in fear because she's discovered the body of Lucas Erickson and is terrified that she'll be accused of shooting him. Janine's had a great motive ever since the night 25 years ago when Lucas and his friends crashed her graduation party and Lucas attacked and nearly raped Janine. His flight and pursuit by his buddies led to a car crash that left Michael Brown dead and Jeremy Carter badly injured, though he recovered sufficiently to marry Sarah and father two children before he died. The creaky history and neglected condition of Whitetail Lodge would seem to make it the perfect setting for a suspenseful thriller. All too soon, however, the lodge is transformed from a mere supporting player to a star, the repository of all manner of documents that motivate Sarah to escape her own grief by reconstructing a fraught family history that reaches back a century. Although Beckman struggles mightily to infuse the disbursements of the Lakeside Ladies' Aid Society, the dubious charity founded by Sarah's great-grandmother Caroline McCaskill, with a sense of urgency, her emphasis on crimes both past and present attenuates rather than reinforces the suspense. Despite the arresting hook, it's all about the backstory.

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March 26, 2021

Three-time Agatha Award winner Leslie Budewitz ("Spice Shop" and "Food Lovers' Village" series) writes under the pen name Beckman for her suspense debut set in Montana. Young widow Sarah McCaskill recently lost her husband and childhood sweetheart to cancer. Her mother, Peggy, urges her to come back to the family-owned Whitetail Lodge on Bitterroot Lake to begin healing. Although the lodge has always been special to Sarah, it was also the site of a crime 25 years ago. That night involved a sexual assault and a devastating car accident that killed one of Sarah's friends. Lucas, the driver in the accident, should have been convicted but went scot-free and even became a lawyer in their hometown. When Sarah returns to Whitetail Lodge, she encounters friends from her past and learns of a mysterious murder that may be tied to the tragedy 25 years ago. As she and her friends dig into the murder mystery, they uncover the secrets of Whitetail Lodge and the McCaskill family from a century ago. VERDICT Beckman paints a gorgeous picture of an idyllic small town. With some paranormal aspects, secrets past and present, and a multitude of murder suspects, this suspense debut is sure to attract readers.--Joni Gheen, LadyJ's Bookish Nook, McConnelsville, OH

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