Bitterroot Lake A novel

Sarah McCaskill Carter, the protagonist of this amorphous paranormal mystery from Beckman (the pen name of Leslie Budewitz; the Spice Shop mysteries), returns to her family's home in Deer Park, Mont., at the urging of her mother, Peggy, who believes Sarah needs a project to take her mind off the recent death of her husband. Peggy suggests that sorting out the contents of the long-abandoned McCaskills' summer house on Bitterroot Lake would be therapeutic, but revisiting the lake brings back troubling memories for Sarah of an unfortunate incident that occurred there 25 years earlier involving her friend Janine Chapman and rich, entitled Lucas Erickson. Soon after Sarah's arrival, Lucas, now a successful but much despised lawyer, is found dead on his office floor by Janine, who fears everyone will believe she killed him. The meandering plot includes ghostly presences and prophetic nightmares, well-kept family secrets, and a maid's suspicious death in 1922. The resolution of Lucas's murder is almost an afterthought. The author's fans will enjoy this, but others may find it a bit muddled. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Apr.)

Cooking cozy specialist Leslie Budewitz tries on a new pseudonym and subgenre but retains her favorite setting--Missoula County, Montana--and several other telltale habits. Seventeen days after cancer killed her husband, Sarah McCaskill Carter returns from Seattle to Whitetail Lodge, her childhood home, with a sense of relief that's entirely misplaced. No sooner has she arrived than she finds baker and old friend Janine Chapman cowering in fear because she's discovered the body of Lucas Erickson and is terrified that she'll be accused of shooting him. Janine's had a great motive ever since the night 25 years ago when Lucas and his friends crashed her graduation party and Lucas attacked and nearly raped Janine. His flight and pursuit by his buddies led to a car crash that left Michael Brown dead and Jeremy Carter badly injured, though he recovered sufficiently to marry Sarah and father two children before he died. The creaky history and neglected condition of Whitetail Lodge would seem to make it the perfect setting for a suspenseful thriller. All too soon, however, the lodge is transformed from a mere supporting player to a star, the repository of all manner of documents that motivate Sarah to escape her own grief by reconstructing a fraught family history that reaches back a century. Although Beckman struggles mightily to infuse the disbursements of the Lakeside Ladies' Aid Society, the dubious charity founded by Sarah's great-grandmother Caroline McCaskill, with a sense of urgency, her emphasis on crimes both past and present attenuates rather than reinforces the suspense. Despite the arresting hook, it's all about the backstory. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.