cover image Fog of Dead Souls

Fog of Dead Souls

Jill Kelly. Skyhorse, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-62873-772-1

Ellie McKay tries to escape her brutal past only to find it following her in Kelly’s uneven debut. After being tied up, tortured, and raped, 60-year-old Ellie regains consciousness in a hotel room in Gettysburg, Pa., to find her lover, Joel Richardson, dead. Kelly tacks back and forth between Ellie’s past as a college professor of French and her present attempts to outrun her troubles, first with a visit to Paris and later with a road trip out west, where she meets rancher Al Robison in a bar and marries him on an impulse. Doug Hansen, the investigating detective in Gettysburg, has also fallen for Ellie, increasing his determination as he chases down leads. Meanwhile, a killer is stalking Ellie and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. The unbelievable plot line is likely to take readers out of the story, robbing Kelly’s thriller of much suspense. Agent: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger. (Mar.)