The third sister

Blaedel plunges right into the middle of the ongoing story line in the melodramatic concluding volume of her Family Secrets trilogy (after 2019's Her Father's Secret). In the previous book, Ilka Jensen moved from Denmark to inherit her late estranged father's funeral home in Racine, Wis., where he moved after abandoning his family 30 years earlier when Ilka was a child. Now Ilka learns a shocking truth about her father that involves a nun he knew, Sister Eileen. Sister Eileen turns out not to be a real nun but a wanted fugitive, Lydia Rogers, who has "been in hiding for the past twelve years to escape a death sentence in Texas." And men from Lydia's past seeking to kill her have just attacked Artie Sorvino, Ilka's business partner, leaving him close to death. The risk to Lydia, who's been accused of smuggling drugs across the Mexican border into the U.S. in dead babies, continues, imperiling Ilka as well. The stories of Ilka and Lydia's attempts to stay alive are frustratingly convoluted, and readers will struggle to care about their fates. This series falls short of the standard set by Blaedel's Louise Rick mysteries. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Apr.)