Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Shadows in the Mirror

by Linda Hall,
Steeple Hill, 2007

A friend of mine recommended Linda Hall a long time ago, and now that I've read her, I'm sure to seek out more of her work.

After her parents died, Marylee Simson was raised in Oregon by a maiden aunt. Now her aunt is dead and Marylee has returned to Burlington, Vermont to learn about her heritage, a subject Aunt Ruth would never address. What secrets does the town hold?

Soon after Marylee opens her craft shop and starts teaching classes, strange things begin to happen. The latch on the door to her balcony is mysteriously opened several times, her car alarm goes off in the middle of the night, a stranger seems to be watching her. A man she is attracted to seems both friend and foe - can she trust anyone, and what should she believe?

There are a couple of errors an editor failed to catch, and a few questionable plot points, but on the whole the story is well written and difficult to put down. The author offers questions for discussion at its conclusion, which help make it a suitable choice for a beginner book club.

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