Carla Day has a full plate, with her full-time job as assistant director at Green Beach Manor (a senior living center), her part-time job as a deputy sheriff and taking care of her father, who is in the early stage of Alzheimer's. When Cherie Ghent, the newly appointed sheriff, takes her to see a pronouncement by a teenage girl—the mother of an indigo baby—they arrive in Stanton's Mill just in time to see her fall from a ledge. But was it an accident, suicide or was Tamina pushed to keep her quiet?

Stanton's Mill is a throwback to the '60s, with its eccentric cast of townspeople. But despite its apparent openness and friendliness, there's a hidden darkness under the surface. All of the latest unease and unrest seems to stem from the appearance of Anneliese Wertiger several months ago. She swooped into town and announces the presence of so-called indigo babies—children with extraordinary talents and a distinct indigo aura. But soon thereafter, indigo babies start disappearing.

Assigned by Cherie to investigate Tamina's fall and the disappearance of the indigo babies, Carla finds it hard to get straight answers from the people of Stanton's Mill. Are any infants actually missing? No one seems to know that for a fact, although rumors say that there are. What did Tamina know that she was going to impart upon the townspeople before her fall? And what does Carla's dad, archaeologist Ed Day, know about Ta-Ent—his name for Tamina—and her secret? It may impossible for her to unearth the information trapped in his mind. But as more violence follows, it becomes imperative that Carla uncover the truth.

I found DARK AURA to be a very disjointed, hard-to-follow read. The use of present tense was also jarring. Also disturbing to me was the seemingly inept sheriff's department of Del Oro County. Readers who've enjoyed the previous two books in the series would probably enjoy Ms. O'Hehir's latest mystery, but others may find it to be as problematic as I did.