When Wylie Lewis sells his half of the detective agency he owned to move into the house his grandfather willed him in the small town of Earlston, he expects he'll have work to do refurbishing and redecorating it. He doesn't expect that Garry Parish, the handsome restaurant owner who lives two doors down, would offer his assistance, as well as put him in contact with Carl, a handyman who could do most of the manual labor.<br><br>Wylie also doesn't expect to be the sheriff's prime suspect when Nelly, a young woman who works for Garry, disappears a week after Wylie arrives in town. As if that isn't bad enough, a second woman, Emma, vanishes a few days later.<br><br>Wylie, Garry, and Carl team up to try to locate them before the sheriff decides to arrest Wylie, but things take a deadly turn when they find Nelly's body. Will they be able to discover who the killer is in time to save Emma, while Wylie and Garry deal with their growing attraction to each other? Or will Wylie become the killer's next target, with deadly results?

New Man in Town

“Did they find Nelly?” Wylie asked him, hoping against hope they had—and alive.


The sheriff answered before Garry could. “No, and another woman is missing. One you know, Mr. Lewis. The second one, from what I understand, since you knew Nelly from here.”


Wylie could only think of two others. “Alicia Harte or her mother?” He prayed it wasn’t one of them.


“You know them, too?” Kingman did not look pleased at that idea.


“Yes. They live behind me. I met both of them when I was taking a walk a few days ago, and then Betty stopped by Thursday while I was working in the garden. Tell me it’s not one of them.”


“You also know a Miss Emma Noble, I believe.”


Wylie nodded. Then he understood what Kingman was implying. “You think I have something to do with her disappearance, and Nelly’s?” he asked, trying to keep his raising anger under control.


“You’ve been in town for over a week, Mr. Lewis. Since you arrived two young women have vanished.”


Chapter 28