Swift River Secrets

by J.A. McIntosh

Emma Wetherby lives in New Salem, Massachusetts, with the local police chief. While working as an archivist at the historical society, items go missing, old grudges are stirred up, and family secrets threaten to surface in the small town she thought she knew. Emma also finds herself with a difficult pregnancy, a reluctant partner, his ex-wife, and their children.

She suspects her co-worker, Grace, of removing items from the historical society, but before she can confront her, Grace is found dead in a display room. Emma is a person of interest in the investigation, making the father of her child, police chief Todd Mitchell, distance himself from the investigation, her, and their unborn child.

Emma needs to solve this mystery before it tears her life apart. She wades into the past to get the answers she needs. Emma must navigate her own relationships and try to find justice for Grace.

275 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2024

About the author

I write legal suspense and mysteries for thinking adults who like to see people get what they deserve. My first stories were made up at bedtime and told to my younger sister. My sister didn't appreciate my efforts and wanted stories with pictures. I kept on, graduated from the local high school, went to the state college, and graduated from law school when my son was fifteen years old. After this experience, my son, Tony, is convinced he does not want to be a lawyer or a writer.

For the past too many years, I have been employed as an attorney by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Children and Families. I represented the state in child custody matters and in child abuse and neglect cases. As I hate to do research, my novels are about this area of law and its heartbreaking consequences on families.

Of course, the stories are also about crimes, including murder and child abuse. Yes, children die in my books, but I try not to make the violence too graphic or in your face. But the books are primarily about people trying to make the best of an awful situation and their attempts to connect with others and get what they need. All does not turn out well.

I live in a small town, much like my fictional Meredith, Massachusetts, and have lived here most of my life. Most of my family lives here also, an atypical situation in the twenty-first century. As the town has less than 10,000 people, I know a large percentage of the population. I belong to the local YMCA, get my nails done by the manicurist with a storefront, and shop at the local WalMart. You can learn more about my town and my attempts to become a published novelist by following my blog: "Herbs and Handguns: Life as a Rural Mystery Writer".

Reviews

[Chele Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juicy Secrets! But who is Deirdre's mother?

I enjoyed staying up late a few nights indulged in this well-written modern-day murder mystery at a historical society. I wondered who done it and why, and if poor pregnant Emma would survive the trauma of finding her coworker, Grace, dead! (I read an excerpt in the Quabbin Quills' anthology "Wandering Roots" and couldn't wait to read the book.)

But Emma's strong and on the case, despite morning sickness all day and a high-risk pregnancy at age 40, her only chance at natural motherhood. As the story progressed, I thought she was selfish doing what she did, one which was going to extreme physical measures after a suspect, and other things that left me appalled. Am I the only one who didn't like the ending?

Woven among the pages are historical letters written in the 1930s from a prosperous family riddled with secrets and scandal. But one living member exists in modern day times who can unravel the hidden scorn and shame! But will Betsy be willing to spill the beans? Emma is determined to connect the dots: it might lead to answers to Grace's demise. We also learn how the man-made Massachusetts's Quabbin Reservoir comes to be, destroying families in its wake. Why would a town allow that?

In between the murder are other family skeletons. I enjoyed the interpersonal saga, wondering if Emma could wrangle her love partner, Todd, into giving her a ring, and a true wholehearted commitment. But he's a cop in a small town and can't spend every moment with her. Maybe it's her pregnancy brain that doesn't grasp this, because he does show up and come to the rescue several times, or perhaps it's a deep-rooted intuition Emma feels.

And yet there is something else that baffled me. Todd has a grown daughter from someone as he says to Emma later in the story, "I already have one failed marriage." But earlier in the book, it says that "Deirdre was twelve when Todd married Brian's mother." [Brian was also twelve.] Shouldn't Todd have two previous marriages? (I was so confused by this that I flipped back to that paragraph twice to figure it out. ha-ha-ha. And it's still not clear. I come from a family of steps, halves, and wholes so I understand the concept but not the one in this story!)
Anyway, only Todd's ex-wife Carol, aka Brian's mother, shows up during another crisis which involves Deirdre. No other ex is mentioned, or is she dead too?

Read this story and see if you feel the same as me: an enjoyable story with a disappointed ending, or if like other reviewers, you cheer it on.

[Ashley Knapik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting mystery. I was between the actual killer and someone else throughout the entire book. The author kept me guessing which I enjoyed as somdtimesthekiller is so unobvious it is annoying.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a docent at the museum myself, I got a kick out of the storyline and enjoyed the setting and the characters. Kept me wondering who the killer was and the ending was satisfying.