Probation officer Gillian Jones wants to be a wife, mother, and career woman, but life isn't fully cooperating. At the age of 33, she’s the survivor of a car accident that shattered her ankle and her first marriage. Now that she’s remarried and walking again, her life is almost where it should be – if only she could get pregnant. Fortunately, her mother-in-law and one of the Bend Brook, Nebraska county commissioners hatch a plan that would enable Gillian to afford the next step in fertility treatment; all she has to do is find the biological parents of the commissioner’s adopted daughter, Caroline, who was left at a Colorado monastery in 1967. Gillian’s clock starts ticking and she is off to Colorado. Unfortunately, no one at the monastery is aware of a baby left there in 1967, or so they say. When a monk goes missing and a woman, who’s sleeping in the bed reserved for Gillian, is murdered, Gillian has second thoughts

The Fatal Heir: A Gillian Jones Mystery

Gillian is the probation officer in a small town.  Gillian’s mother-in-law managed to pull a few strings and suddenly there was a job opening that would give Gillian the money to continue seeing the fertility doctor.  Gillian was now the town’s investigator and already she had a case. The day she accepted the position was the day she started her first case.

In 1967 Howard and Libby (deceased) adopted a little girl that they named Caroline Ann.  The adoption could have been illegal.  Howard and Caroline would like for Gillian to find her birth mother.  They were willing to pay her $10,000 plus expenses, which would cover the fertility doctor’s expenses. 

Gillian had few leads.  It was believed that the baby was left at a monastery and a Purina deliveryman named Livingston had brought the baby from the monastery to the couple.   Slowly the clues begin to add up, the Livingston’s, a monastery, a hired teen, and lost keys; they add up to murder.  Soon Gillian learns that life as an investigator is dangerous.

Lois Lewandowski is a talented writer.  Quickly I turned the pages to see what would happen to Gillian next.  The cover of “The Fatal Heir” was an excellent choice; it hints at the mystery waiting inside.  Gillian is a well-developed character, strong, intelligent, and resourceful.  Marlene, Gillian’s mother-in-law, a secondary character, is wonderful.  I would love to see a book with her as the main lead.  Gillian’s husband, Clint, was a rather weak character and seemed almost non-existent.   This book is an excellent mystery but it also has its humorous moments, and that’s what makes this book stand out from other mysteries.  I predict that Lois Lewandowski will go far as an author.