In Carystown, Kentucky, Sheriff Bill Delaney's daily
routine is abruptly altered when Kate Russell enters his
office. Kate informs him where the body of nine-year-old
Isabella Moon lies. Isabella disappeared two years ago and
it remains an open wound for this small community. When the
body is unearthed, shock waves flow through the town, as
inhabitants look upon one another with suspicion.
As the investigation begins, a seemingly senseless murder
occurs, and the town's secrets are in danger of being
exposed, especially Kate's. Sheriff Delaney must probe into
her carefully reconstructed life. He soon finds that all
clues to the killings eventually lead back to Kate. She's
the thread that connects the past with the present. Then
the past collides with the present, sending shock waves
throughout the community as the town's ugly secrets are
exposed in a surprisingly haunted ending.
Ms. Benedict's debut is a darkly edgy thriller depicting
small-town life. She creatively weaves supernatural
elements as Isabella's spirit drives the finely drawn
characters to a startling conclusion. The effective
combination of supernatural and thriller increases the
suspense as layer upon layer peels away revealing the
rotten core within the heart of the community.
Two years ago, in idyllic Carystown, Kentucky, nine-year-
old Isabella Moon disappeared on her way home from school.
Is it just coincidence that Kate Russell, a young woman
with no discernible past, arrived in town just months
before Isabella’s disappearance? When Kate walks into
Sheriff Bill Delaney’s office to tell him that Isabella’s
ghost has led her to the child’s hidden grave, he
immediately views her as a suspect. Mystery follows mystery
as a local athlete drops dead, inexplicably, on the
basketball court, and someone close to Kate is viciously
murdered.
Quiet Carystown was to be Kate’s salvation, and she’s
settled into a comfortable job, a charming cottage, and a
blissful romance. But having lied to her boyfriend, Caleb,
for so long about the terrors of her past life, she finds
she can’t trust him to understand the terror that Isabella
Moon has now brought. And Kate’s best friend, Francie, is
too wrapped up in her own troubles – particularly a secret
affair with a man she at once loves and despises – to give
Kate the help she needs. Utterly alone, Kate is torn
between finding justice for the dead child and keeping away
old ghosts of her own.
The unsolved disappearance of Isabella Moon has been the
biggest disappointment of Sheriff Delaney’s career. But he
senses that Kate is trouble. As he investigates her
impossible claims, he also uncovers a series of unsettling
truths about Carystown itself. Behind his hometown’s
genteel façade is a morass of lies and murder, drugs and
destruction. And Carystown’s residents are about to
discover that even though the past is buried, it can rise
again – with a vengeance.
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