This had cops investigating murders and writers investigating possible story lines for a new book.It had editors getting more involved with their authors then ever before and tantellising hints at other story which threads its way through the storyline.Nina is the editorRegean is the writerWas is the copI like their story - (view spoiler)[Nina comes to bury a stepmother whom she never truely related to and the meets the step-brother she barely knows.Her father was convicted of rape and murder and died in prison.Her latest author lives not too far away so she decides to visit her too.A priest who was a family friend gives Nina a box containing her father affects from Prison.....why would he have kept these things for so long (16 years).. inside there are two letters. One addressed to my step-mother and one addressed to her.SHe was never really close to her father - and even less after her mother dies.When he is arrested - she leaves town and lives with her aunt.now she is back in town and when she read the letter she decides the best person to discuss it with is her writer friend Regean.Regean has an FBI 'friend' called Mitch (romantic solid character but not in this book)Nina asks the police for all the information on her father trial and finds that there was minimal investigations.Her father was guilty of having affairs with these girls but he maintained his innocense about their murders.the police never realised that another professor was having an affair with his wife and was strangely attracted to everything that Nina's father had in his life.the story is rich and lively and filled with warm fuzzy feelings and Nina's quest for the truth. the characters really come to life and there is never a time in the book when I thought I knew what would happen.Wes initially is antagonistic towards Nina but gradually he finds that he wants to spend more time with her and that she is asking intelligent questions and making him question what was his first investigation as a police officer.The real killer is caught.. the latest killer is also caught and both these men have ties to the dead step mother who was more evil than Nina had originally thought. She organised for her lover to kill her husbands lovers and her son framed her husband for their murders, by planting a book in the room of one of the victims. She wanted him to go to prison for not loving her.step-brother tries to kill Nina by dropping her in the sea (Nina can not swim)and she attacks him from pruning shears (she had in her pocket and everyone is safe.Backstory is a thread of Regean following up on a report card she found in her fathers papers. Her father was an investigative reporter who also wrote fantasically successfully true crime novels.Eddie Kroll is the kid and she does not know why her dad would have his school report cards...Turns out this boy was involved (with two others) in the killing of a class mate who always boasted about having a lot of money.kid only had twenty bucks on him before he was bashed to death...Eddie was under age and released before the other two but he disappears. no-one can find him... Regean puts a ad in the home town newspaper and someone named Dolly answers but her story seems to change everytime Regean asks her questions. She meets Carl (eddie's brother) and it turns out that Dolly is Eddie's sister.... Carl's wife gives Regean some family photos And there is a shockerEddie had another sister and she looked just like REGEAN.....What can it mean....????!!!!!Got to read the next book thats' what!! (hide spoiler)]
I liked this third book in the "Truth" series. It wasn't my favorite, but it kept my interest as I read.Nina Madden is returning to her once hometown of Stone River Maryland for the funeral of her step mother Olivia. Nina left Stone River 16 years earlier when her father, a respected professor at the local college was arrested for the rape and murder of four college students. Four women he was secretly having affairs with. After her father's conviction, she has had no contact with her imprisoned father, step mother or her step brother Kyle. As Nina is preparing to return to her home in New York, the family priest presents her with a box of her father's belongings. He died while in prison. The box contains the contents of his cell. The priest tells Nina that there are letters in the box for her and for her step mother. Nina puts the box away and forgets about it, at least until Kyle wants to know what was in his mother's letter.What Nina discovers when reading the letter is about to open up a whole new can of worms. And point the finger of suspicion at someone else. Now all she needs to do is find someone to listen to her and to take her seriously. Her first thought is of her friend and author Regan Landry. Nina is Regan's editor, and knows she likes to dig into old cases and see what she can find.When Regan and Nina approach the local police about getting information about her father's case, she is met with nothing but scorn and doubt. Detective Wes Powell, was a rookie when Nina's father was arrested, it was his first murder. He has his doubts about the letter, and is less than happy to have her poking into one of his old cases. But when another student at the college turns up dead, and is posed exactly like the bodies in the original case, Wes has no choice but to accept the help of Nina, Regan and Regan's FBI boyfriend Mitch. In a side story, one that started in the first book, Cold Truth, Regan with Mitch's help is still searching for the mysterious Eddie Kroll. A man who turned up in one of her father's old files. We learn a little more about Eddie and who he may have been in this book. I love following Regan and Mitch through the books.As with the other Mariah Stewart books that I've read, this one is a bit slower paced than most thriller/mysteries. But I think her story ideas, all the twists and turns, along with her character development makes up for it. She has her characters pop in and out of the books, there are references to past storylines as well. It's like revisiting old friends. I look forward to reading the last book in the series.
What do You think about Dark Truth (2005)?
Excellent book!!From back cover:"Murder didn't end Nina Madden's life - it destroyed it. When her father was charged with the serial killings of several college students, Nina and her stepmother became pariahs in their small Maryland town. Though Nina never believed the hideous accusations, evidence led to her father's conviction and guaranteed the death penalty. When her father died in prison, his case still on appeal, Nina left Stone River and never looked back...but she couldn't shake the lingering doubts.More than sixteen years later, those doubts are stirred to grim life. A new series of murders is plaguing Stone River: a killing spree that bears a striking resemblance to the one that sent Nina's father to prison. And Nina isn't the only one disturbed enough by the gruesome events to take notice. Wes Powell, the cop who pursued the original case, can't ignore the eerie similarities between the crimes...or their harrowing implications. Drawn back into a mystery that refuses to die, Nina and Wes will cross paths on their dangerous quest - and find themselves in the crosshairs of a bloodthirsty predator."
—Louise
This was a really good book. So much happens in this book that it's just crazy for a while. I was so excited throughout the book. You learn a great deal about the characters. I am a huge Mariah Stewart fan, but if you ahve not read the seried, you have to. All of the books are good, but this was my favorite one. It is more of a suspence novel than a mystery, but it lives up to its name. There are so many truths revealed that you wonder how the female character deals with it all. Great, Great, book.
—Nell
When she was in college, Nina's father, a professor at that college, was arrested and convicted for the rape and murder of four of his students. Years later, after her stepmother has died, Nina returns to the town where she grew up to go through his things and comes into possession of a letter suggesting that he was innocent. So, with the help of Regan Landry, Mitch Powell and a particularly skeptical and initially condescending police detective who had been on the case years ago, she sets out t
—Maura
