Crosshairs

Bradley continues her Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with a layered second-chance romance. Ranger Ainsley Beaumont returns to her hometown to investigate the death of a local girl. But after she shows up and discovers her great-aunt, Cora, unconscious, her ex, Lincoln Steele, arrives as part of the emergency response team. Cora starts rambling about a missing journal, and it’s Lincoln who makes the connection with a book Cora’s writing about the Beaumonts’ ancestors. As Ainsley and Lincoln team up to look into the suspicious circumstances of Cora’s accident, they become closer and begin to talk about their past­—just as prayer comes back into Ainsley’s life. Then, Lincoln finds out that an escaped convict is after Ainsley. Through dramatic turns and family confrontations, Ainsley and Lincoln close both investigations, while Cora also finds what she’s been searching for: the recovered journal posthumously proves an ancestor accused of murder was innocent. Bradley unwraps a mystery of the past through a modern investigation that mends relationships, strengthens faith, and offers a couple a renewed chance at love. There’s much to dig into for fans of crime fiction tinged with faith. Agent: Julie Gwinn, the Seymour Agency. (Nov.)