Bitter Secrets

by Patty Brant

Captivated by a 40-year-old mystery, hometown reporter Molly Martindale embarks on a quest for truth that plunges her into an icy nightmare of fear and uncertainty. A wheelchair-bound Viet Nam vet, cold and eerie faces from the past, a savvy old black man and a yellowed diary are her companions on a journey that threatens to wake sleeping ghosts from her own secret past. Bitter Secrets is an intensely human story set in a small Florida town. Intriguing secrets push the reader along as the heroine makes a heart wrenching search for clues to a lost family. Pictures of the lush southern landscape and varied characters all but speak aloud, including Dutch, her devoted Labrador retriever. It's a good read, richly blending plainly beautiful language from start to finish. Barbara Oehlbeck, poet and author of Root, Hog, or Die, The Sabal Palm and For the Love of Roses. Bitter Secrets by Patty Brant is a story of the old south with twists and turns, melancholy and ghosts from the past. In the vernacular of southern people through easy conversations over coffee, Patty spins a deepening mystery of violence and trauma that crosses generations. This is a mystery-lover's mystery with a touch of the paranormal that keeps the excitement high. D. K. Christi, Consultant, Speaker & Author of The Bamboo Connection and The Ghost Orchid, www.dkchristi.com

252 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2012

Reviews

[Kait Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bitter Secrets is the first book I have read by Patty Brant. I'm waiting for the next one. Molly comes to the small town of Oxbow where she finds employment as a news reporter for the local paper. Her office features one window. The view is of a vacant lot and a gorgeous flowering tree. From time to time, the tree features flowers and ghostly faces. Like any good reporter, Molly needs to find the history of the lot and the names to put with the faces. What she uncovers is a small town secret that has been covered up for more than 40 years. Her discovery threatens to the leadership of the very town. Unwilling to back down, her investigation leads her to the town's oldest citizens who finally offer her enough tidbits to take her to Georgia where she manages to uncover the rest of the story. The book is riviting. I couldn't put it down. Kudos to Brant.

[Joanne Tailele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story of mystique and wonderful characters.