Named sole heir to her aunt’s estate, Charity Gannon arrives in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, hoping to find a link to her past. She’s not looking for lost treasures; she is searching for a connection to the aunt she barely knew. What she finds is a thirty-something-year-old mystery and questions with no answers. A sad, secluded cottage, all but hidden amid the vines. A man’s suit of clothes, tainted with dried blood and a bullet hole. Four forgotten boxes, stuffed into a large bag and buried in the far corners of the shed. These are not just any boxes. These are unopened, undelivered boxes, left behind by the now-defunct Kingdom Parcel. All four boxes are marked March 14, 1984-the very day her uncle, president and driver for the delivery service, was said to have committed suicide. Four forgotten boxes, whose owners might still be out there, waiting for a delivery that never arrived. The undelivered boxes haunt Charity, tugging at her conscience. Hadn’t someone noticed them missing? As Charity sets out to deliver the packages to their rightful owners, she discovers that the story behind one box is delightful. Another is heartbreaking. And one might very well be the death of her.
What’s in the box? Charity is surprised to learn she has inherited her aunt’s estate and when she gets to the cottage to clean it out she is even more surprised to see her uncle’s bloody clothes complete with a bullet hole hanging on a rack. She wonders why her aunt has kept these clothes and that makes her suspicious. Adding fuel to the fire, she finds a garbage bag in the shed with four unbelievers packages from her uncle’s delivery business. So it begins! Fate lends a hand and introduces her to a gorgeous…
A surprising mystery I normally read two books a day (retired) and lean towards deep gritty novels interspersed with the occasional cozy for mental relief giving the romance genre a definite pass. Becky Willis has been a surprising new find that has made me broaden my literary horizons. In her books there are no gut wrenching scenes of mutilation, characters you’ve grown to like suddenly turning into a paranormal evil presence, one character meeting someone attractive will not result in a graphic sex scene three…
Complex back-story of the presumed suicide of Charity’s uncle brings unexpected surprises This book was a delightful surprise to me. It had all the elements of mystery, murder, suspense, love, questions, darkness and light. There were several thoughts I had about what the mystery could be; at first I was wrong but the light switched on as the story flowed. Though the story unfolds between the past, 1983 to be exact, and the present, it definitely builds the story and is essential to the plot. When Charity Gannon inherits the very small house her Aunt Nell lived in for so many years…