DEADLY KEEPSAKES

An extraordinary surprise inheritance places a resourceful young nurse’s life in danger in this mystery/thriller.

Twenty-seven-year-old Tori Winters is working as a hospice nurse in Springfield, Missouri, when she receives a phone call that Horace Milburn, one of her patients, has died. Although Horace was in hospice care at home, Tori is surprised that he succumbed so quickly because he had been feeling better in recent days. She arrives at the Russell house, where Horace had been living with his daughter, Amelia, and son-in-law, Charlie, and discovers that too few of his pain medication pills are in their container. Tori suspects foul play, and she becomes the prime witness in Charlie’s murder trial. After continued harassment by Charlie’s two brothers, Earl and Farley, culminating in a bullet smashing through her living room window, Tori decides it is time to get out of town. Then she receives a phone call from attorney Jonah Greer in Granbury, Texas, saying he has important business to discuss with her. She sets out for Texas but not before covering her tracks by telling everyone in Springfield that she is moving to Colorado. She meets with Jonah and learns that her paternal grandmother, Elly Leichter, who she had been told died decades earlier, has just recently passed away. Elly left her entire estate to Tori, including an old mansion in need of repair. Tori falls in love with the mysterious house and inherits a world of danger. Dickason’s series opener features an intriguing hero. And the house—with its unique history; intricately described, valuable antiques; and many secrets—offers plenty of opportunities for future plotlines. Tori intends to turn the “white elephant” into a bed-and-breakfast (“The house was a mish-mash of arched windows, plain and stained glass, and gingerbread trim”). Several attempts on Tori’s life provide adequate moments of moderate tension, and there is an ample supply of possible suspects. Although there are no big final surprises, the entertaining narrative moves along at a healthy clip, building a collection of captivating secondary characters who are likely to appear in the sequel, with one who may become a romantic interest.

A fun rags-to-riches tale in an engaging mystery helmed by an appealing protagonist.