THE PAST IS NOT AT REST

In Bennett’s novel, a determined reporter helps a friend honor her deceased mother’s wishes and uncovers a slew of hometown secrets in the process.

In the second installment of the author’s Heartland to Hometown Mystery series, the elderly Muriel Banks is found dead at the bottom of an embankment near Lewisburg Cemetery—the neglected Black cemetery in Benford County, Missouri that she had been attempting to preserve for historical purposes: “Most people driving past had no idea that the copse of beech and hickory trees beside the road marked the final resting place of the ancestors of several Black families.” Reporter Leni Spencer agrees to help her friend Elizabeth, Muriel’s grieving daughter, finish what Muriel had started and get the Lewisburg Cemetery registered as a historic site to protect it from both rumored rezoning and the town’s calculating mayor, Coralee Coleman. But tracing the path of Muriel’s research takes Leni and Elizabeth on a winding historical journey that reveals shocking truths, including hidden relatives and a missing will from a relative of Thomas Jefferson. The pair soon discovers that sleuthing comes at a cost as their discoveries threaten to tear their peaceful community apart. Bennett crafts a mystery that balances genuine tension with enough comfy details to reassure readers that nothing too bad will happen (a feeling that is surely helped by the text’s repeated references to the town’s breathtaking autumnal beauty). The pace remains pleasantly brisk, despite occasional typos and some lengthy asides that are meant to flesh out the historical context for Elizabeth’s family research (the largely natural dialogue helps make those asides both believable and informative). Bennett infuses a traditional whodunit with deeper themes, including racial prejudice, historical preservation, and retroactive justice. This somewhat unusual combination results in an exciting and thoughtful read that will likely please both mystery lovers and historical-fiction buffs.

A smart, well-paced, and cozy mystery with a large cast of lovable characters and a satisfying conclusion.