Mudlark

Sheila Simonson's delightful amateur detective Lark Dodge prompted Publishers Weekly to declare, "Self-aware and intelligent, the clearly drawn Lark is a promising new presence on the mystery scene." Readers of Mudlark, her third adventure, will be quick to agree. Lark and Jay Dodge have recently relocated from a small town in northern California to an even smaller one on the Shoalwater Peninsula in rural Washington State. While Jay organizes his police-training courses at the local college, Lark is working on their home and hoping to start a family. Almost as soon as the couple have settled into their fixer-upper, though, they find themselves in the midst of an acrimonious feud. The local community is hotly divided between those who want to preserve the area's pristine beaches and those who welcome a projected resort development. The conflict takes a turn for the deadly when Lark and her newfound friend Bonnie stumble across a body on a deserted stretch of the beach. The murdered woman, Cleo Cabot Hagen, was a leader of the pro-development forces. She was also, however, the ex-wife of one of Lark's neighbors, writer Tom Lindquist. When Tom's house is burned down, the Dodges offer him lodging. Between Tom's presence and Jay's police connections, Lark finds herself in the middle of a complicated investigation, unable to resist trying her hand at detection - with the usual dangerous complications.


Genre: Romance