The Great War casts a long shadow in Montgomery's disappointing fourth mystery featuring Kinship, Ohio, sheriff Lily Ross (after 2021's The Stills). On July 4, 1928, businessman Chalmer Fitzpatrick opens an amusement park named after Lily's brother, Roger, who died in the war. That night, Pearl Riley, a local spinster, is found murdered in the park's fishing pond, and Chalmer's wife, Sophia, finds a month-old infant by their side door. Sophia claims that the baby is the result of an affair between her husband and the dead woman, but Lily doubts Pearl could have hidden her pregnancy. Meanwhile, Lily discovers that her mother, Beulah, has been concealing a secret: Roger fathered a daughter, Esmé, in France, and with Chalmer's help Beulah has arranged to bring the nine-year-old to America to live with them. When Esmé disappears, evidence that she has been kidnapped adds a high-stakes mystery to Lily's workload. Esmé is an intriguing addition to the cadre of strong females at the series' heart, but the welter of minor characters and incidents introduced before crimes occur or detection begins generates more confusion than suspense. This outing will best please existing fans. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group. (Mar.)

In 1928 Kinship, OH, Sheriff Lily Ross faces an abundance of trouble. Just as an amusement park created by county commissioner Chalmer Fitzpatrick prepares to open, a young woman's drowning death on his property reveals secrets dating back for generations. Then there's the baby left on his doorstep. Meanwhile, the daughter Lily's brother fathered with a Frenchwoman before his death is expected to arrive any moment, but it seems she may have been kidnapped. Fourth in Montgomery's popular series; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Yearning for the good old days? This cleareyed look at life in 1920s Appalachian Ohio may change your mind. Sheriff Lily Ross has suffered her share of hard times in her quest to solve crimes. Maybe her perfectionism is why her mother hesitated to tell her that Lily's adored brother, who was killed in World War I, had a child, Esme, with a now-deceased Frenchwoman. After years of secret communications between Lily's mother and the French family, Esme's on her way to live with them. Meanwhile, the largely poor rural area eagerly awaits the opening of an amusement park built by wealthy Chalmer Fitzpatrick, who served with Lily's brother. In the background lurks a long-running feud over the land on which the park is built. A second-sighted woman's prediction of a drowning in the park's fishing pond comes disconcertingly true. Around the same time as the death, which is no accident, a baby is left on Chalmer's porch. Lily's friend and deputy, Marvena, recognizes the infant as one a poor local mother wet-nursed in an attempt to put food on her own children's table while her physically abusive husband is unemployed. Lily finally learns about Esme when the child does not arrive as arranged, presumably because she's been kidnapped. While working the murder case and searching for Esme, Lily uncovers a lot of nasty secrets about people she thought she knew. Trying to accept a new picture of her brother while hunting a killer and kidnapper, she leans on the network of strong women she's developed over the years. An evocative and beautifully written tale of hardship, love, and kinship. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kinship, Ohio, 1928: "Tragedy is always a-comin,' sooner or later." Beulah McArthur is no stranger to tragedy. Every family has its sad truths and its secrets, some darker than others. And Mama Beulah keeps them all in her heart. The biggest secret of all is the one about her son, Roger, and the daughter he left behind in France after WWI. Worst of all is that she has kept this from her daughter, Sheriff Lily Ross. It all goes off the rails when the child is kidnapped in route to join the family. Lily is already preoccupied with the death of a young woman found murdered in a pond and an unidentified baby left on the local mill owner's doorstep. There are other victims as well--victims of poverty, domestic abuse, and shell shock from the war. The multiple plot lines encompass many characters and are interwoven magnificently in this atmospheric tale, rich in historical detail, the fourth in the Kinship series, after The Stills (2021). Make sure that fans of Sharyn McCrumb and Julia Keller know about this one.