Loser returns to her home town looking for peace and quiet, but can a loser ever escape death and danger?
Loser returns to the hills where she was raised in search of peace, but even in the lovely little town of Beulah, West Virginia, trouble manages to find her. When one of her fellow foster children, Nadine, returns to town, the secrets she carries with her lead Loser into a tangle of deception.
Nadine hasn’t got much to say about why she’s back in Beulah, and her son Eddie might be just a little too good to be true. Still, Loser’s willing to help them—at least until Nadine pulls a disappearing act.
Each time Loser learns the answer to a question, another one arises. Why did Nadine run from a comfortable life and a successful husband? Is Eddie a good kid or an opportunistic manipulator? What happened in the town of Romulus that was worth killing for? And most important: Can Loser protect the innocent and at the same time preserve her own life, the life she’s only recently begun to want?
Excerpt
Something about the stranger’s interest made me cautious. After passing the Dahl’s place, I pulled off the gravel road onto a two-track I remembered that travelled into the woods a way then petered out at the spot where an old cabin had burned before I was born. As a teenager, I’d found it a great place for private time with my boyfriends. It served my current purpose, hiding my car from view of the road. I got out, closed the door quietly, and headed through the woods, cutting off the last corner before my driveway. I stopped a few feet back from the clearing where my house sat, seeing what I’d suspected I’d find.
A black Hummer sat in my driveway. The man I’d seen in town was doing as I’d done the day before, circling the house and peering in the windows. I tried to recall if I’d left any sign of my presence, but I didn’t think so. I hadn’t been inside that long. There were tire tracks in the drive, of course, but the house still looked abandoned.
Looking for one of Marta’s foster children, he’d said. A female. Was he a reporter who’d trailed me all the way from Richmond? Probably not. His license plate said he was from West Virginia.
As he came back around to the front of the house, I saw his face clearly. He looked like an outdoorsman, the kind who’s confident he can handle whatever Nature throws at him. He was handsome, his face deeply sun-tanned. Wide shoulders filled out his jacket in a way his tailor must have appreciated. Hearing his steps on the wooden porch, I noted expensive boots with square heels and narrow toes.
For some minutes the man surveyed the yard, as if taking in details of the closed outbuildings and the unbroken quiet. His gaze swept the tree line, and I froze as it seemed to stop at the spot where I stood. No, I told myself. He didn’t see you, and if you keep still, he won’t. It was hard to fight the urge to run, to avoid trouble, whatever this particular sort of trouble was. Beth urged calm, but Loser wanted to turn and flee, to keep running until she found anonymity in a big city with a park for sleeping and alleys for hiding.
In the end, Beth won, or maybe she delayed action long enough that it became unnecessary. The man made a move that signalled decision, pushing himself away from the porch post and heading for his vehicle. He drove onto the lawn to turn around rather than backing down the driveway. His tires spun ruts in the grass as he accelerated and then disappeared from sight.
I waited until the dust cloud he’d made settled and then turned back, making my way quietly through the trees until I reached my car. I sat in it for a while, wondering who the man had been looking for. If it was me, I couldn’t think of a reason. All of Marta’s foster children were at least a decade gone. What had brought a stranger to the little town of Beulah and beyond it, to my front door?
Professional Reviews
Reader Review-Amazon
After becoming the "Homeless Hero" of Richmond in "Killing Silence", Loser chooses the anonymity of West Virginia. She escapes the notoriety, but is once again drawn into the needs of others. What the heck is going on in the mountains? Is it something that would lead to murder? Can "Beth the cop", and "Loser" work together?
Ms. Herring once again leads us along a complicated and interesting path. I try to make her books last a bit longer, but reached a point where I could not put it down.
Revenge is Fun series. Millions of dollars are missing from the Venice Canals HOA and so are the Vice President and Treasurer. Were they kidnapped? Where is the money? Twists galore and a surprise ending with humor along the way.
Revenge is Fun series. Millions of dollars are missing from the Venice Canals HOA and so are the Vice President and Treasurer. Were they kidnapped? Where is the money? Twists galore and a surprise ending with humor along the way.
