THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER.
At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do
some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific
Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping
friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement.
The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a
crumbling mansion nearly a century ago. A crushed skull, a garnet earring, a
locket containing a telltale keepsake *all whisper of tragedy. Ancient
photographs reveal more. But Emma has to fish in dark and dangerous
waters to get the whole story of a wealthy, ruthless family, a story that
twists and turns to a shocking conclusion that should never be told....
*From the Paperback edition.*
### From the Publisher
Mary Daheim and I go back a long way -- well, seventeen or eighteen years. That's a long time for a publishing association. Years before I became Mary's editor on the Emma Lord/Alpine series for Ballantine, I was an editorial assistant at another trade house -- and that's where we met, long distance. She lives in Seattle; I live in New York; even eighteen year ago, the phone lines stretched in both directions. At the time Mary was writing successful historical romances for my then-boss, a senior editor. One day Mary and I revealed our unbridled passion for reading crime fiction. Little did I dream then that, soon after I arrived at Ballantine, Mary would become a crime writer herself. Of course, now she's a nationally renowned one . . . and I especially treasure her novels about Emma Lord, the editor-publisher of a small-town weekly newspaper in fictional (but based on fact) Alpine, Washington. The paper is called The Alpine Advocate, which is also the title of the first novel in the series. For any readers who haven't visited Alpine, I heartily recommend starting with Book One -- and then continuing forward (in alphabetical order) to THE ALPINE BETRAYAL, THE ALPINE CHRISTMAS, THE ALPINE DECOY, THE ALPINE ESCAPE, THE ALPINE FURY, THE ALPINE GAMBLE, THE ALPINE HERO, THE ALPINE ICON, THE ALPINE JOURNEY, and (coming soon) THE ALPINE KINDRED.
--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher
### From the Inside Flap
THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER.
At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do
some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific
Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping
friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement.
The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a
crumbling mansion nearly a century ago. A crushed skull, a garnet earring, a
locket containing a telltale keepsake *all whisper of tragedy. Ancient
photographs reveal more. But Emma has to fish in dark and dangerous
waters to get the whole story of a wealthy, ruthless family, a story that
twists and turns to a shocking conclusion that should never be told....
Description:
THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER. At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement. The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a crumbling mansion nearly a century ago. A crushed skull, a garnet earring, a locket containing a telltale keepsake *all whisper of tragedy. Ancient photographs reveal more. But Emma has to fish in dark and dangerous waters to get the whole story of a wealthy, ruthless family, a story that twists and turns to a shocking conclusion that should never be told.... *From the Paperback edition.* ### From the Publisher Mary Daheim and I go back a long way -- well, seventeen or eighteen years. That's a long time for a publishing association. Years before I became Mary's editor on the Emma Lord/Alpine series for Ballantine, I was an editorial assistant at another trade house -- and that's where we met, long distance. She lives in Seattle; I live in New York; even eighteen year ago, the phone lines stretched in both directions. At the time Mary was writing successful historical romances for my then-boss, a senior editor. One day Mary and I revealed our unbridled passion for reading crime fiction. Little did I dream then that, soon after I arrived at Ballantine, Mary would become a crime writer herself. Of course, now she's a nationally renowned one . . . and I especially treasure her novels about Emma Lord, the editor-publisher of a small-town weekly newspaper in fictional (but based on fact) Alpine, Washington. The paper is called The Alpine Advocate, which is also the title of the first novel in the series. For any readers who haven't visited Alpine, I heartily recommend starting with Book One -- and then continuing forward (in alphabetical order) to THE ALPINE BETRAYAL, THE ALPINE CHRISTMAS, THE ALPINE DECOY, THE ALPINE ESCAPE, THE ALPINE FURY, THE ALPINE GAMBLE, THE ALPINE HERO, THE ALPINE ICON, THE ALPINE JOURNEY, and (coming soon) THE ALPINE KINDRED. --Joe Blades, Associate Publisher ### From the Inside Flap THE EDITOR OF THE ALPINE ADVOCATE GOES DIGGING FOR A MURDERER. At forty-two, newspaperwoman Emma Lord decides she needs time off to do some soul-searching. But her old Jag breaks down in the picturesque Pacific Northwest town of Port Angeles, and instead of finding herself, she ,s helping friends find the truth about a grisly discovery: a skeleton in their basement. The bones belong to those of an unknown young woman, buried in a crumbling mansion nearly a century ago. A crushed skull, a garnet earring, a locket containing a telltale keepsake *all whisper of tragedy. Ancient photographs reveal more. But Emma has to fish in dark and dangerous waters to get the whole story of a wealthy, ruthless family, a story that twists and turns to a shocking conclusion that should never be told....