2020 Book Review #27: The Last Sister

I discovered a new-to-me author on the library shelves last week while browsing in person.

This book was really well written and exciting with just a touch of romance without being sappy.

STORY SUMMARY

Emily Mills lives in the Barton Family mansion (actually owned by her 3 great-aunts Vina, Thea, and Dory Barton...all single and in their 70s) with her younger sister Madison.  Their mom's grandmother was the great-aunts' sister.  Emily and Madison have an older sister, Tara, who ran away from home at age 18 the night their father was found murdered and hung and their little forest home set on fire.  They lost everything.  And a few days later, their precious mother took her own life.  

Emily was married to Brett for a few years (he is a police officer in a nearby town) and knows  a little bit about the law.  She  was the one who found her father's body hanging from a tree in their backyard.  Madison and her mother were asleep in their beds.  Her sister Tara claims she was at a friend's house the night the murder took place, but Emily remembers seeing her sister fleeing into the woods shortly after finding their dad's body.

Ever since that night, 20 years ago, Emily and Madison have tried to forget it.  But now another murder has taken place...their good friends Sean (a public school history teacher and African-American) and his wife Lindsay (a waitress at the Barton diner that the aunts own and where Emily is the manager and Madison is another waitress).  Some of the townsfolk didn't approve of Lindsay and Seth's marriage as Lindsay is Caucasian. Seth was murdered and then hung!  Lindsay was stabbed to death in their bed.  Emily is the one who finds them and calls 911 because she was concerned when Lindsay didn't show up for work earlier in the morning.

Emily also decides to call the FBI in Portland which is just a couple hours away in their hometown of Bartonville.  Zander Wells, an FBI special agent, and his partner Ava McLane arrive at the scene and begin to take charge of the investigation.  He's eager to solve the double murder but once he learns about Emily's past he becomes intrigued with solving that mystery as well.  He also doesn't believe that the man in prison for the murder of Lincoln Mills (Emily's dad) is guilty.  

And then more blood is shed......and a body of an African American young woman is found.....and Zander begins to suspect that there's a horrible secret buried in the town that no one wants to dig up.  Do Emily and Madison know something?  Are they purposefully not telling?  And what about Tara?  Did she take a secret with her when she disappeared??

MY THOUGHTS

This book was fast-paced and very well developed.  Apparently the author has several different series out there and Zander and Ava are introduced in another book not related to this one.  I've discovered that this novel is the first in a series called The Columbia River series. I'm going to request the other 3 books from my library.  

The characters are well developed and the setting is perfect.....a small town on the coast of northern Oregon with Portland not far away.

I loved that Tara was brought in and that the backstory played out so effectively.  I don't want to ruin it for you in case you want to read this book.  

There's suspense, mystery, history, and a bit of romance in this novel.  I love that the language is CLEAN and there are no s*xual scenes.  

The main themes in the book deal with:  racism, abandonment, alcoholism and slight drug use, widowhood, divorce, the sister bond.  

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content). 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.