cover image The Alpine Traitor: An Emma Lord Mystery

The Alpine Traitor: An Emma Lord Mystery

Mary Daheim. Ballantine, $23.95 (337pp) ISBN 978-0-345-46818-5

Murder and mayhem once again rock the placid town of Alpine, Wash., in Daheim’s 20th cozy to feature newspaper publisher Emma Lord (after 2007’s The Alpine Scandal ). When the two grown children of Emma’s deceased long-ago lover, Tom Cavanaugh, offer to buy her paper, the Advocate , Emma refuses. Soon after leaving for Seattle for the weekend, Emma gets a phone call from Sheriff Milo Dodge, who tells her the driving force behind the attempted takeover, Tom’s daughter’s husband, Dylan Platte, has been murdered. A suspect herself, Emma joins Milo in the search for Dylan’s killer. Not until violence strikes again, this time close to home, can Emma put the pieces together and come to terms with Tom, his family and her own painful past. An intriguing plot and the usual cast of lovable characters make this another winner. (Feb. 26)