The past doesn’t often stay buried. though, and a strange, scary young man begins to torment Jake over the Fourth of July weekend. She soon realizes that it is the son of Steven Garner, one of her last clients before she left Manhattan, to whom she did not lend $50,000 and who disappeared and was suspected of being murdered by the mob. As Garner ratchets up his threats, Jake becomes increasingly concerned for her safety, but she doesn’t realize that what Garner has planned will threaten the lives of her entire community.  

The murder of a local young woman makes Sheriff Bob Arnold take Jake’s concerns more seriously and the police arrest a young man who they think is Garner and the NYPD gets involved as more about Garner’s past comes to light. 

The tension in this mystery comes more from not knowing what Garner is capable of and what he might do next than a typical who-dunnit.  As more events come to light, the police make more assumptions and connections, some correct, some Jake disagrees with and about which she tries to convince them otherwise.  Bella, Jake’s stepmother, and her father continue to support her as do her husband Wade, son Sam and friend Ellie, but much of the local color that is usually present in these mysteries is missing. 

Jake’s past has come back to haunt her several times, when her son had a relapse, when her ex Victor showed up to make amends and then died, but it’s Jake’s present and her place in Eastport that have always made this series a stand-out.                                                  

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry