This book seemed to have lost the spark that his previous works had. Though it is still very good, this one was just a bit off.

Tish Verdure returns to Minnesota to write about a case that is just too personal for Detective Jonathan Stride. This book will be about the night 30 years ago that Jonathan and his late wife Cindy thought would be the most wonderful of their lives, the night that they would make their most personal commitment to each other. But when Cindys sister Laura never comes home and is found murdered, and the town is readily able to believe that it was the black vagrant that did it, and all was easily swept under the rug. But that was just too easy. This is the case that sent Jonathan into police work.

Now Tish is back to write a book and expose the truth. A truth that has too many people wanting this story to stay hidden. A truth that will set some free, but will bury others.

Freeman writes a tightly wound thriller that has multiple storylines and has the reader rapidly turning pages to see which conclusion will answer the questions the Jonathan has been trying to solve. Did his beloved Cindy keep secrets from him? Why didnt he know about Tish?

Freeman slowly unfold more depth to his continuing characters. Slowly, but sure, we begin to see the inner workings of these characters and what makes them tick.

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Second time around is just as good as the first! Don't miss it.

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I have read all of the books in the series up to this one, I loved the first three, but this one just did not keep me hooked like the others. It took forever to finish this one, I hope the next one is better or I am done with the series!

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This is the fourth book in the Jonathan Stride series...I've read the last three in order and I'm liking these a lot! This one deals with Stride's past and what happened to him and his wife, Cindy, and her sister, Laura thirty years before. A woman from the past named Tish comes to Duluth. She is attempting to write a book about what happened to Laura on the 4th of July, 1977. Laura was brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat. The crime was never satisfactorily solved but was blamed on a black drifter going by the name Dada. Dada fled when he thought he was going to be charged with the crime and was never prosecuted. But did he kill Laura? And if so, why? Or was he a witness to what really happened? Others in the town could possibly have committed the crime including the owner of the baseball bat, a young rich boy who wanted Laura for himself. Was his involvement covered up by the police? Stride gets immersed in this 30-year-old crime but at the same time a peeper is terrorizing young girls in the community. Could this be related to the death of Laura?

Another thrill ride from Freeman that kept me turning the pages. Excellent character development as usual and some unexpected twists to the story that I didn't expect. I have one more in this series that I will read next, The Burying Place, then I will probably take a break and move on to something else but I'm sure I will be back to the series at some point.

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Another riveting Stride mystery. A case from Stride's high school years involving his dead wife's sister's murder that was never solved. An old classmate comes to town writing a book about the unsolved murder and provides evidence and clues that may or may not help the cold case. Revisiting his past, Stride is plunged into murder, deceit, unanswered questions about his late wife, old resentments, and crooked colleagues. He & Maggie work to untangle the webs that have been cast for so many years while Serena is seemingly working with the enemy. Trying to piece the past and present together draws out a murderer, a stalker, & new suspects that throw Stride off his game.

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