“Farm families in southwestern Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains struggle to survive in Parshall’s strong sixth mystery featuring veterinarian Rachel Goddard…Parshall does a good job depicting the close-knit community and the strife that arises when the residents are pitted against each other in a depressed economy. A fast-paced plot with plenty of false leads keeps the reader turning the pages.” —Publishers Weekly
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- Poisoned Ground
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A Poisoned Pen Press mystery
Read by Tavia Gilbert
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Release Date: 6/24/14
Formats: Digital Audy
There's a poisonous secret behind these bucolic scenes …
When a powerful development company sets its sights on Mason County, Virginia, as the location for a sprawling resort for the rich, the locals begin taking sides. Many residents see the resort as economic salvation for the small Blue Ridge Mountains community, while others fear the county will become financially dependent on a predatory company.
Few oppose the development more vocally than veterinarian Rachel Goddard. She sides with locals reluctant to sell their land and, in the process, complicates the life of her new husband, Sheriff Tom Bridger.
When a beloved couple is gunned down on the very farm they refused to sell, it seems supporters will stop at nothing to ensure the success of the resort. Now, disagreement in the community has exploded into civil war, with both sides lashing out. As the violence escalates, Rachel discovers the attacks are more sinister than they appear.
Can she bring the truth to light before her community tears itself apart?
- Poisoned Ground
-
A Poisoned Pen Press mystery
Read by Tavia Gilbert
-
Release Date: 6/24/14
Formats: Digital Audy
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- Disturbing the Dead
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A Poisoned Pen Press Mystery
Read by Tavia Gilbert
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Release Date: 5/14/14
Formats: Digital Audy
Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, thought he had escaped his mountain community's lingering prejudice against the mixed-race group when he left to work for the Richmond, Virginia, Police Department. Tom was moving up the detective ranks when a family tragedy brought him back home and moved him into his father's job as a county sheriff's deputy.
Now the bones of a Melungeon woman who disappeared ten years ago have surfaced on a remote mountaintop, and all evidence points to murder. Violence escalates as the victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Tom's probing. But as he looks into his father's investigation of the case, he finds his father was not the man he idolized.
The woman Tom is falling in love with, veterinarian Rachel Goddard, is struggling to start over in a place that holds no memories for her. Rachel puts herself in danger when she befriends Holly, niece of the dead Melungeon woman. As a child, the girl witnessed something that could implicate her aunt's killer, but she is too terrified to tell anyone what she knows. While Rachel is determined to keep Holly safe and help her piece together past events, the guilty are equally determined to silence the girl—and Rachel too, if necessary.
Will this murder be Tom's and Rachel's undoing, or will it free them to look into the future?
- Disturbing the Dead
-
A Poisoned Pen Press Mystery
Read by Tavia Gilbert
-
Release Date: 5/14/14
Formats: Digital Audy