Book description
When Stella Crown hires a new farmhand to help run her Pennsylvania
dairy business, she gets more than she bargained for in a Mennonite
widow who arrives burdened not only with grief, but with rumors of
infidelity and murder. And a young child. Before you know it, Stella,
battling deep sorrow herself over the loss of her long-time friend and
employee Hank as well as worries over her shaky finances, copes with an
influx of nasty in-laws, heartbroken beaus, and spiteful vandalism. It
all strikes Stella as an empty vendetta. Maybe. Determined to protect
herself and her farm, Stella sets out to discover the truth while trying
to give her new employee a respectful benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile,
Stella's good friend and fellow biker, Lenny, is riding a crisis. At one
moment jovial, the next angry and suspicious, Lenny is haunted by pain
and secrets he won't share with Stella. His bizarre behavior is soon
complimented by vicious attacks on his home and his business. “Three can
keep a secret, if two are dead” is a saying that suddenly gains new and
terrible meaning. Stella Crown is trying to hold body, soul and
Pennsylvania dairy farm together when help comes in the form of a young
Mennonite widow, Lucy Lapp. Stella takes to strong-willed and fearless
Lucy immediately, but is also suspicious: as soon as Lucy moves to the
farm, all manner of strange things happen. Teens coat the garage in
nasty graffiti; Stella receives an anonymous phone call urging her to
look into her “new hire's past.” Stella begins to suspect the worst-did
Lucy's husband really die accidentally, or did Lucy murder him? Stella
tries to nail down the circumstances of Lucy's widowhood, but Lucy is
evasive. Indeed, Stella's willingness to put up with her employee's
prevarications is the one flaw in an otherwise engrossing, strong
mystery: most small-business owners would insist on getting to the
bottom of things sooner. Still, the novel's conclusion, which reveals
the reasons for Lucy's hedging, is satisfying and surprising. Subtle
local color-controversy between two fissiparous Mennonite churches-is an
added plus. In this second Stella Crown mystery (after 2004's Till the
Cows Come Home), Clemens has a winner. Judy Clemens was born into the
Mennonite faith, but discovered her motorcycle leanings later in life.
At home in rural Ohio, she lives with her husband and two children,
where their livestock consists of three housecats.
