SANCTUARY HILL

A hidden backwoods community, a curious charm, a murdered child and a missing wife alter Bay Tanner’s life.

Bay Tanner (Bishop’s Reach, 2006, etc.) is riding out a storm at her father’s house when a cooler washes ashore containing the body of a dead baby and a voodoo-like charm. Sickened by the baby’s murder, Bay feels she must investigate it along with another new case she’s taken: a wife who’s gone missing with $100,000. Wealthy realtor Billy Dumars wants Bay and her team, computer expert Erik Whiteside and ex-cop Ben Wyler, to find his missing wife Tracy. When Tracy’s body is discovered in the trunk of her car, the money is missing. Although Tracy was last seen by the banker who supplied the cash, her husband is the main suspect, and his lawyer hires Bay to help exonerate him. Red Tanner, the police officer brother-in-law who’s in love with her, insists she stay out of both cases. But Bay convinces her father’s longtime housekeeper to point her toward the secretive charm maker and advises her partner’s daughter, Stephanie Wyler, who’s overheard her boyfriend make comments that may bear on Tracy’s murder. Bay courts death and finds love before she discovers the truth.

Bay is a woman of character, always providing a rousing adventure while showing her softer side.