Vanessa and Ethan Langley have just moved into Langley House, with the intention of turning it into a B&B. But Langley House has a six-generation history that includes its share of ghosts. Meanwhile, they are renting an apartment from Zoe and Pierce Broussard while Langley Manor is being renovated. Pierce and Zoe run a cafe together.
Trouble begins when a white man, the simple-minded Remy Jarvis, is lynched just 200 yards from Langley Manor. Meanwhile, Zoe starts getting anonymous notes, each the same five words cut from the newspaper: I know what you did. Her past is a secret from everyone, including her husband. Does someone know? If so, what do they know? And what will she do to prevent her secrets becoming known? The answers to these questions are slowly uncovered as the story progresses.
(I have to say that the North American convention of referring to # as the pound symbol annoyed me. I call it the hash symbol. To me, the pound symbol is 'lb' for weight, or £ for currency. And # is a hashtag on Twitter). Dangerous Mercy finishes with a clear gospel message without being saccharine or preachy. Overall, it was a good read, but was weaker than the first book in the trilogy.
While the murder hunt is going on, there is
a visitor in town - Zoe’s brother, who has returned to find the sister he
abandoned many years ago. They had an abusive father, and Zoe has to work on forgiving
her brother for not taking her when he left. Even though she has been a
Christian for many years, she still finds this difficult.
Overall, I enjoyed this series, even though
the concept of a murder mystery where the police force where not the main
character was a novel concept (if you will excuse the pun), and I did work out
who did it before the police in two out of the three books, and I prefer that the culprit not be so obvious. The
books are well-written, the characters are strong and likeable, but not
perfect, and the setting is well done. These are solid mysteries with
underlying themes of faith and forgiveness.
Kathy Herman is now working on another
trilogy, Tales of Foggy Ridge, which will be set in the Ozark Mountains of
Arkansas, and will contain some characters from this series. Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing free ebooks for review.
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