Catherine Clayton is a musician - she can play most any instrument, she's lucky enough to have plenty of money and she's willing to share her talent by giving lessons for free. She's picked the small, under-privileged town of Riley, New York for her studio. One of the main reasons that she chose Riley was that her college roommate, Danielle Knight, is the principal of the elementary school there. Danielle urges Catherine to come, because due to lack of funding, the elementary school can no longer have music programs offered to the students. She's hoping that Catherine can fill in the gaps with her studio. Catherine is determined to make a difference in this small town. However, she meets with some resistance. The town has suffered some vandalism and a young woman who used to work at the school has been murdered, but they never caught the murderer, and all the fingers seem to point to her boyfriend, Adam, a young man that Catherine meets at Church. She's strangely drawn to him, even though half the town tells her to avoid him. When the vandalism escalates, Catherine is uncertain whether to stay and run her studio, or run and start over somewhere else. But she ultimately decides to stay. Will Catherine's decision cost her her life?
I love Stephanie Black's books. They are always clean, but at the same time so full of mystery that you don't know who was the murderer, who you as Catherine can trust. I loved the way this one ended. I really wasn't sure just who the murderer was until the very end! The characters are likable, I got to "know" them enough to care about what happened to them. I had a hard time wanting to put this one down. I can't wait for Stephanie's next book!
I was able to borrow a copy of this book from my local library.Labels: LDS Mystery, Stephanie Black
