A heartbroken Charlotte returns to quaint carless Mackinac Island and her lonely aunt…to fall in love again with the Island, its people and an Island cop…and to become dangerously entangled in a murder mystery.
She’ll fall in love again…with a man and the island. Charlotte returns to her Aunt Bess and Mackinac Island, a quaint retreat that welcomes summer tourists and allows no cars, to renew herself and write about the island’s ghosts.
She’s come to help Bess with her heartache, an ended love with Shaun, and to renew a friendship with neighbor Hannah.
In winter Mackinac closes down and everyone looks forward to the ice bridge that freezes across the Straits of Mackinac.
Until Hannah disappears into the icy waters crossing it.
Everyone says it’s an accident. But Charlotte and her admirer cop friend, Mac, don’t think so. Something isn’t right. Hannah was too smart to go off the path.
So it’s murder…but why…how…by whom?
In the end, it’s Mac–and perhaps Hannah’s ghost–who saves Charlotte and Bess’s lives when the killer decides they’re too close to the truth and tries to kill them, too.
Excerpt
EXCERPT:
She heard her aunt open the door and let him in.
With trembling fingers, Charlotte dressed and went downstairs. Her aunt was weeping at the kitchen table. Mac was consoling her.
“You found Hannah?” Charlotte didn’t want the answer but she had to know.
“I’m afraid we might have. I’m sorry. Sit down. I’ll tell you about it.” He seemed exhausted.
Charlotte settled down beside her aunt. She readied herself for bad news.
“At dawn this morning the rescue team began dredging the lake beneath the abnormality we found yesterday. They dragged the water. Though they didn’t snag a body or a snowmobile, they’re pretty sure someone went under the ice. The underwater currents are powerful and swift moving so it’s possible we might not find a body until spring when the ice melts.”
Mac took something out of a plastic bag he’d had in his coat pocket. He laid it on the table in front of the two women. It was a bright red mitten, wet, trimmed with black thread, and unraveling along the edges.
“Do either of you recognize this?”
Bess gasped and reached out to touch it. “It’s one of Hannah’s. I gave her these mittens for Christmas. They’re brand new. Or they were.”
Charlotte recognized the mittens, too. When Hannah had unwrapped them she’d thrust them on her small hands and had pretended they were talking eyeless puppets. She’d had everyone laughing with her puppets’ lame jokes and antics.
“They found this mitten frozen into the ice on the edge of the irregularity. The rescue crew believes it belonged to the victim.” Mac glanced at the mitten in the middle of the table. “If it’s Hannah’s, then chances are good she’s the one who went into the water. I’m sorry. I loved the old woman, too, you know.”
Charlotte was in shock. After they’d found the unevenness in the ice she hadn’t wanted to believe that a person could be down there or that it would be Hannah.
Not Hannah...sweet old lady, her dear friend and like a mother to Bess all these years.
“She drowned?” Tears were trickling down Charlotte’s face.
“How did she wander off the path? It isn’t like Hannah to make such a mistake.” Bess groaned. “She’s smarter than that.”
“I don’t know what happened,” he admitted to both women. “We might never know.”
“With those undercurrents it’s possible, isn’t it, that we won’t ever recover Hannah’s body?” Charlotte asked. She’d read something once in a book about someone being swept under ice. They hadn’t recovered that body either.
“It’s possible.”
“So how will we be sure it was Hannah?” Charlotte was assailed by an unexpected vision of a crowd of phantoms in the mist hovering on the ice and smiling forlornly at her. One of them waved with one red mitten. It was Hannah.
Mac came to his feet and stuffed the mitten into its plastic bag and then into his coat pocket. “Well, if she never comes home we’ll know. The search team will continue to look for a while but I don’t think they’ll have much luck until the spring thaw. Then they’ll be able to dredge more successfully and send down divers. Right now it’s too cold and there’s too much ice.”
Mac turned to Bess. “We need to find out if Hannah has any living relatives. She never talked about them with me. Did she tell you anything about her family?”
“She didn’t have any children,” Bess said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “She had sisters but both are dead now. I don’t think she has any living relatives but I’m not positive of that. She didn’t speak of them anyway. She said the past was the past. You know how she was, Mac.
“But I guess we could go through her papers and her telephone numbers and try to dig up names. She’s got old friends here on the island from her childhood who might be able to help.”
“Those are places to start.”
Charlotte was lamenting that Hannah could be dead and was furious at the useless way she’d died. After she’d put her arms around her aunt and had given her a comforting embrace, she made a pot of coffee. It gave her something to do when all she wanted was to curl up somewhere and weep. Underlying her own sorrow, she was afraid for Bess. Between Shawn’s exit and Hannah’s disappearance, her aunt was going to be a real mess.
Hannah’s absence was going to hurt both of them so much.
Professional Reviews
Praise for The Ice Bridge
The Ice Bridge is an awesome book! It’s full of mystery, intrigue, and just a
touch of romance. It’s also full of ghost stories. They are brilliant and really add
something extra to the story. The characters are great and well developed. I loved
Hannah, she was a wonderful substitute grandmother to Charlotte. This book
is not a gushy romance and doesn’t have any love scenes, but I think it’s better
without them. I was beginning to wonder if Charlotte and Mac were ever going to
realize that they were falling for each other, but once tragedy struck, he was there
for her and their love began to blossom. The story focuses more on the interaction
between the characters and the mystery involving the ice bridge. The way it is
written, you almost feel like you are right there with the characters and a part
of the story. You especially experience Charlotte’s emotions first hand, I think
that might be why I had a hard time sleeping while reading this book – I was a
little spooked, but it was worth it! I would definitely recommend The Ice Bridge,
especially if you like ghost stories; it is well worth your time and the investment!
—Victoria Lyn at MANIC READERS REVIEWS
The Ice Bridge byWriters and Readers of Distinctive Fiction
Mackinac Island is the perfect retreat for a broken heart. Charlotte Graham
needs a place to rest after a broken engagement leaves her reeling - and her aunt’s
home on the island is ideal. Lieutenant “Mac” Berman is attracted to Charlotte,
but will he wait for her to heal? Winter is coming and a mysterious disappearance
has Charlotte and her aunt Bess in grave danger. Will they survive The Ice Bridge?
The Ice Bridge lulls the reader into the comforts of Mackinac Island. In fact,
the island is almost a character itself. From the haunting ghost tales to the quiet
way of life of the island, Mackinac Island has personality. Kathryn Meyer Griffith
describes this isolated piece of paradise in such a manner that it adds to the
overall suspenseful atmosphere.
Charlotte is a character many will relate to. Her retreat to Mackinac Island
is understandable but it is her love for Bess and Hannah that makes her so
endearing. In fact, all of the main characters in The Ice Bridge are likable, a nice
contrast to the darker elements of the storyline.
The Ice Bridge isn’t a flashy tale but rather it is one in which atmosphere is
critical to the suspense. Kathryn Meyer Griffith depicts a ghostly, eerie island in
which anything mystical seems possible - and perhaps anything is possible. Well
done! —Debbi from CK’s Kwips and Kritiques
The Ice Bridge by Novelspot
Ms. Griffith has written a story not soon to be forgotten in The Ice Bridge. It
isn’t your typical romance. In fact, I would akin it more to women’s fiction than
anything else. The tone is serious yet at times wry. The POV stays with Charlotte
the entire time—sometimes very close and other times at a distance. And this
is because it is HER story. This book is a journey for Charlotte. She comes to
Mackinac Island very disillusioned with what she thinks is a broken heart and
by story’s end, she had changed her entire perspective and found that illusive
happiness.
The author knows her setting well. From the first paragraph and on
throughout its entirety, you become well-acquainted with small island community
life and more specifically that of Mackinac Island just off of the state of Michigan
and inside Lake Huron. The descriptions were terrific and it made me want to
make a visit to the island.
If you’re looking for a contemporary character study with a bit of suspense
and some truly believable characters then pick up a copy of The Ice Bridge.
You won’t be disappointed. —Cindy K. Green at Writers and Readers of
Distinctive Fiction
* * * *
The Ice Bridge was one of those books that was a mixture of a tale about
the friendship between three women of various ages and a murder mystery. That
blend is something that you would think would be really hard to manage but
Kathryn Meyer Griffith does it beautifully. When Charlotte first arrives it’s all
about her but quickly Charlotte discovers that hers is not the only heartache in
the world. Through Charlotte you learn about the heartaches of her Aunt Bess
and their neighbor Hannah.
The author knows both her characters and setting well. From the first
paragraph to the last, you become so well acquainted with the small island
community life and its inhabitants that you come to believe that you are part of
that community. The Ice Bridge had me completely entangled in the lives of these
three women to the point it was four in the morning when I finished it.
This book is a keeper!! And I can’t wait for the next book by this wonderful author!!
—Theresa from Novelspot
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Willa Goodheart, honest and hard-working white collar worker finds herself connected to a police investigation for a serial killer; and she hasn't a clue why - that is, until she begins digging.
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