*I was provided with this book, A Secret to the Grave, free of charge so I could read it and create this review. All opinions are my own.*
A Secret to the Grave is a detective mystery. It took a long time for this story to introduce me to the actual mystery. The reading was enjoyable once the plot became clear. I found it a bit obvious, the love story that “blossomed”, and the resolution to the story.
Detective Bell is just returning to work after shooting a killer, who happened to be a very young woman with a baby, dead. His partner questions whether he’s ready to return to work just yet. Their current case involves a young woman abducted by a killer who has plans to kill 10 other women if they can’t solve his clues.
As the mystery unfolds it turns out these 11 women all know each other from their childhood. Of course they have all pledged to take A Secret to the Grave. And it looks like it’s going to go that way if Detective Bell can’t get them to talk.
Tessa, the “leader” of the group, catches the Detective’s eye, and of course the feelings are mutual. But because of this secret she is not willing to get into any relationship. A love story develops slowly as a sub-plot to the whodunit plot line.
I liked the story, it was easy to read and followed a very natural progression. There were a few red herrings in the plot, and the “secret”, while not surprising, does factor on the ick scale. I did find it a bit hard to believe that all these girls were willing to die for this secret. Seems a bit unnatural, especially with so many ladies involved. But I guess if they’d just told the authorities there wouldn’t be much of a story!
Overall it was good – I have another novel by this same author, Jane Blythe. I’m interested to see how it stacks up. I don’t think they are of the same series so it should be a different story to get involved in. Keep an eye on the blog for that review! Better yet, sign up to get my new posts by email so you’ll be sure to see it in your inbox. The email subscription box is in my sidebar. Thanks!
~Jess
