Hattie Hoffman, a teenager residing in a small farming community in rural Minnesota, has the world by the tail. Intelligent, lovely, and genuinely sweet, she's the epitome of the perfect child for most parents. Her love for acting has given her big dreams for her future, a future that involves moving to New York and hopefully staking out a career on Broadway. However; those dreams are dashed when her body is discovered in a barn, a victim of a horrific stabbing.
Local Sheriff Del Goodman and trusty sidekick Jake (deputy) go above and beyond to put the pieces of this puzzle together by gathering crime scene evidence and searching through her personal computer and cell phone for clues. It's soon discovered that Hattie had been involved in a secret online relationship.
Interviews are conducted of potential (and very obvious) suspects. Among these suspects are bumbling football jock Tommy Kinakis (Hattie's boyfriend) as well as handsome new English teacher Peter Lund, who was currently in the midst of a drifting marriage and rather unhappy about his living arrangement on his ailing mother-in-law's farmstead. My personal list of less obvious suspects were Mary Lund, the slightly angry and detached wife of Peter Lund ; Portia Nguyen, Hattie's best friend; and last but not least, Winifred Erickson, the elderly pipe-smoking friend of Mary Lund's family who had shot and killed her husband twelve years previously (a character whom I would have liked to have seen more of).
You'll undoubtedly experience a "Wow" moment towards the ending of this particular novel, with its twists and turns, but as much as one might enjoy this book, the ending was unfortunately a bit predictable.
Cathy Kesterson
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