Claire Mitchell returns to her North Carolina birthplace to uncover her family roots. She finds more than family in Appalachia. A body discovered in a clearcut forest, thrusts Claire into a murder investigation where the leads to finding family and the leads to finding a murderer keep hitting too close to home. Claire Mitchell finally has the answers: She knows who she really is and where she really came from. A trip from her westcoast home to her original home in North Caroline, leads her into more life and death struggles. Not all her long lost family members welcome her home.       Excerpt A twig snapped somewhere to her right. It came from path leading past the old outhouse and the hay barn. An old panic rose in her throat and she shivered from a cold that had nothing to do with the dew or the night air. She turned slowly, looking at the trees. She heard their leaves saying what leaves had told her years ago. Run! Run! Run! And she did run straight toward the creek. She stole a look behind her. Nothing. Was she imaging things? Hunkered down behind a rock, she peered into the darkness shrouding the path she'd just left. She sounds she'd heard--thought she'd heard--were silent now... Claire swiped at tears of despair. Couldn't she trust her instincts anymore? How like a fool she must look, hiding here in the dark, hiding from her own nightmares. A sudden impact from behind, propelled her into the water. Her cheek pressed into the sand and pepples at the bottom. She couldn't ger her head above water. She couldn't breath!

Professional Reviews
Tulsa World Book Review
BOOK REVIEW:
CLEARCUT
By Lynda Douglas
(Treble Heart Books: $13.50)
ISBN 1932695133
Reviewed by: Patricia Ann Jones, book reviewer for Tulsa World Newspaper

"The black shape of Ripshin Mountain loomed against a darkening horizon. This place wasn't likely to be logged and the Forest Service no longer maintained the nearby hiking trail . . . He couldn't have asked for a better place to hide a body. It might never be found."
The killer was right, but the best laid plans, as we all know, usually fall through. Seven years after the burial of a young Indian woman's body on Ripshin Mountain a major blow-down brought loggers to the mountain to clearcut the damaged trees.
The plane carrying Claire and Kyle Evers from their home in Portland, Oregon to Asheville, North Carolina prepared for landing. Claire and Kyle's visit to the Asheville area has a twofold purpose. One, is to help Claire regain her memory lost after a near-death experience at the age of ten. By visiting her deceased parent's home place and possibly finding surviving relatives she feels recovery is a real possibility. The second is for Kyle to reunite with an old friend, Hank Sawyer, an Indian policeman with the Forestry Service. The last thing on Claire and Kyle's minds is to become embroiled in a murder investigation.
The lines between Claire's search for her family and her husband's search for a murderer keep crossing, muddying up the facts. An attempt on Claire's life seems to be tied to the murder investigation. The question is why? Unless . . . the killer is closer to home than they think.
Douglas' love of nature shows in her writing. Her novel, DEADFALL, set in Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest and CLEARCUT, its sequel, set in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest, grew from her experiences in those environs.
Douglas' natural flare for dialogue is a major asset in her work. Her characters are deftly drawn not only with perfect physical descriptions, but with speech patterns using local dialects. Her choice of sympathetic players makes "Clearcut" more suspenseful as the plot develops and flows to an unexpected resolution. The use of specific details in the preservation of our National forests is informative and extremely interesting. Rather than intruding into the story, they become an integral part of the whole.

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