The final part of the Grace Valley trilogy shows us June Hudson in a new light. This capable lady is the town's doctor, who settled in during the first novel and soon fell for undercover DEA agent Jim Post. DOWN BY THE RIVER is a fitting title for a story in which the river threatens to rise.

Some parts of the town are low-lying, and a wet start to winter has everyone worried. The rain seldom ceases, but life continues, albeit at a slow pace. June is expecting Jim’s baby. Fortunately, he has been able to take early retirement and has no other ties, so he hopes to settle in Grace Valley and care for his family. There’s a hitch – they are not married. From the start of the tale, where June delivers a baby for a nineteen-year-old mother in an at-risk situation, to the all-threatening rising river, June is kept busy. But what about a wedding? The same single-mindedness that saw her through medical college and established her in practice keeps her from planning a day away from work. I thought she should be considering the child, being told that his parents weren’t married, but she doesn’t.

Harry, the pastor, returns to a larger part of the plot; he is a recent arrival in town and not doing well. To my mind, if the pastor’s wife has left him, that’s a warning sign, but the townsfolk took him at face value. Other familiar faces include June's eccentric aunt Myrna, the mystery writer, whose story wraps up neatly. Last summer, the return of a sports hero and June’s old flame, Chris Forrest, with twin lads, was a big issue. Now he’s here with his wife, Nancy, and the boys have a serious medical situation, all living in a fixer-upper house. Nancy has grown up so much and, as generally happens, has become a much nicer person than during school days.

The spread of the story around various secondary characters is good and bad – we see more of the town, but we also focus on people distanced from the main romance, who can be quite one-dimensional. This is like an early version of the more famous series Virgin River, in which secondary characters feel more appealing to me and seem to deserve a chance at real romance.

I found a contradiction, as well, in the collective love and respect for June and the total lack of consideration given to hiring a locum doctor during her pregnancy, or the last trimester, or last month even. June wants to work and is obliged to take it easier. But it’s flu season, she could catch anything, the vaccines do not guarantee immunity, and she could slip on ice or get drenched by rain, or just have trouble driving with a swollen stomach. The senior doctor just seems to be saving himself the cost of a locum. And that’s my main criticism of this lovely trilogy, DOWN BY THE RIVER, providing a grand finale and showing us how Robyn Carr got started building characters over twenty years ago. From here, you should move on to series about Virgin River and Thunder Bay, and try some of her standalones too.