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Linda Darby #2
Hometown Secrets
Hometown Secrets: The long awaited sequel to the first Linda Darby suspense mystery, THE WOMAN, has been released. And Ryan Testler, is back with her again.
Memories are funny things. The way they quietly hang around. Linger. Waiting for something we see or hear, or an unexpected event to slam them forward into our consciousness. To strike us the way headlights assault a dark road. Some memories bring along a smile, others foreshadow danger and there are those which cry out for resolution. All of this is true for Linda Darby.
Linda wonders if she might again be lured into her first lover’s bed. As the pace quickens she does find love, along with friendship, fear, danger, and opportunity. Clashes of personality and conflicts between the agendas of the principal characters eventually coalesce in ways Linda never anticipated.
Memories are funny things. The way they quietly hang around. Linger. Waiting for something we see or hear, or an unexpected event to slam them forward into our consciousness. To strike us the way headlights assault a dark road. Some memories bring along a smile, others foreshadow danger and there are those which cry out for resolution. All of this is true for Linda Darby.
Linda wonders if she might again be lured into her first lover’s bed. As the pace quickens she does find love, along with friendship, fear, danger, and opportunity. Clashes of personality and conflicts between the agendas of the principal characters eventually coalesce in ways Linda never anticipated.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
557 people are currently reading
835 people want to read
About the author
David Bishop
33 books140 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
I was born in Washington, D.C. From there my life likely mirrored that of a lot of my readers. We moved around. I got some education. Played some sports, and got some more education. Prior to becoming a novelist, I worked as a financial analyst determining the value of companies. But let's talk about my current and final career, writing mystery novels.
As a writer, I conjure up occurrences designed to quickly bring the story to a roiling boil. Along the way, I invent people. Victims and villains and heroes are needed, as well as a supporting cast. I make these people fun and interesting so you will welcome them and introduce them to your friends. Primary characters need habits and tics and talents, the qualities that bring them to life and make you love them or hate them. You'll want to see them humiliated or hunted down, be sucessful or seduced.
My mysteries offer you the opportunity to be challenged to find the villain from among the suspects. Clues as large as a log or as tiny as a bump thereon are salted throughout the stories. There are distractions in the form of false clues, called red herrings, which point to someone other than the real villain.
Take a journey with me. Laugh. Hold your breath. Cheer. Boo. The characters are rich and the plots are grabbers. I promise that you'll be glad you came along. Some people don't like golf or chocolate or even a hearty laugh. But I'll bet you like some of those things and I'll bet you'll like my mysteries. Yours very truly, David Bishop
I was born in Washington, D.C. From there my life likely mirrored that of a lot of my readers. We moved around. I got some education. Played some sports, and got some more education. Prior to becoming a novelist, I worked as a financial analyst determining the value of companies. But let's talk about my current and final career, writing mystery novels.
As a writer, I conjure up occurrences designed to quickly bring the story to a roiling boil. Along the way, I invent people. Victims and villains and heroes are needed, as well as a supporting cast. I make these people fun and interesting so you will welcome them and introduce them to your friends. Primary characters need habits and tics and talents, the qualities that bring them to life and make you love them or hate them. You'll want to see them humiliated or hunted down, be sucessful or seduced.
My mysteries offer you the opportunity to be challenged to find the villain from among the suspects. Clues as large as a log or as tiny as a bump thereon are salted throughout the stories. There are distractions in the form of false clues, called red herrings, which point to someone other than the real villain.
Take a journey with me. Laugh. Hold your breath. Cheer. Boo. The characters are rich and the plots are grabbers. I promise that you'll be glad you came along. Some people don't like golf or chocolate or even a hearty laugh. But I'll bet you like some of those things and I'll bet you'll like my mysteries. Yours very truly, David Bishop
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
July 21, 2015
64 of 75 for 2015. Linda Darby's mother has died, so she must return to her home town for the reading of the will. But she wants to experience the town without having everyone recognize her. Add to that the fact that one man seems to control the place, the spoiled grandson of the town's founder who has the sheriff, the judge, and almost everyone else in his pocket. Can Linda help her friends break free of the tyrant? That's the mystery. There are enough improbable characters to make the story a bit over the top, but nonetheless, a fun read and some enjoyable folk who appear in other books as well. I look forward to reading more of David Bishop's work.
July 23, 2018
Very much enjoyed
Twists and turns. Very much enjoyed the plot and the ending more than expected. Look forward to reading more about the female main character. Will stick with the series.
Twists and turns. Very much enjoyed the plot and the ending more than expected. Look forward to reading more about the female main character. Will stick with the series.
January 28, 2019
Hometown Secrets (2)
This is a good read. The story was just done in a short and easy way but not as a gimmie as to good and bad .there's enough action to keep your interest but not in a gory way.
This is a good read. The story was just done in a short and easy way but not as a gimmie as to good and bad .there's enough action to keep your interest but not in a gory way.
January 15, 2020
Good fun book
Another very good David Bishop book. I really like the Linda Darby series. They have good twists and turns in the plots and always provide entertainment. Highly recommend this one!
Another very good David Bishop book. I really like the Linda Darby series. They have good twists and turns in the plots and always provide entertainment. Highly recommend this one!
February 11, 2023
Entertaining Linda Darby
This was an enjoyable read. Although it isn’t necessary to read the first book of Linda Darby, it is a better story if you do read it to get a more complete picture. It is a light read with a fun storyline.
This was an enjoyable read. Although it isn’t necessary to read the first book of Linda Darby, it is a better story if you do read it to get a more complete picture. It is a light read with a fun storyline.
Read
March 17, 2017I was cautious about this book when I bought it because of the cover.....and the name. I like mysteries and this looked more like a soap opera. Well I was pleasantly surprised. David Bishop is an author that develops his characters, not only book by book, but they stand alone. (I read #1, but I can't remember what is was about!) Linda Darby goes back to her home town for one thing and it turns into so much more. She finds it run by a single man with his fingers on about everyone there.
Someone dies in the first chapter. Linda reunites with her best friend from high school. And the storyline goes from there. Eventually Ryan Testler is brought into the picture to kind of save the day from the background. As usualy, there were twists and turns. Nobody is who they seem to be. We really don't know the end until the last sentence.
I enjoyed this book very much and am anxious to start on the next in the series: "The First Ladys Second Man). I've already purchased it and my Kindle Paperwhite awaits me..
Someone dies in the first chapter. Linda reunites with her best friend from high school. And the storyline goes from there. Eventually Ryan Testler is brought into the picture to kind of save the day from the background. As usualy, there were twists and turns. Nobody is who they seem to be. We really don't know the end until the last sentence.
I enjoyed this book very much and am anxious to start on the next in the series: "The First Ladys Second Man). I've already purchased it and my Kindle Paperwhite awaits me..
January 8, 2018
Such a great read. Really captivating and captures the imagination fully.
February 18, 2018
Fine read - seemed at the end as if too many things 'got fixed'
I do not think I will read this author again. But there are lots of readers who will. Good luck!
I do not think I will read this author again. But there are lots of readers who will. Good luck!
March 19, 2018
There were too many elements of the story that were unbelievable.
July 27, 2018
Apparently I had read this book already. Cannot remember a thing about it but it had a one star. So there it is
October 13, 2018
This is a quite short and yet satisfying read where the characters are believable and the ending is rewarding.
December 10, 2018
It was alright. This mystery writer did better in this second book on Linda Darby than the first.
January 10, 2019
Good read
Both Linda Darby books were good books. The story line kept moving and I really enjoyed all the characters involved.
Both Linda Darby books were good books. The story line kept moving and I really enjoyed all the characters involved.
June 20, 2019
Hometown Secrets
David Bishop delivers again in Hometown Secrets. I loved the first of the Linda Darby series and this one is a great second. Can't wait to read the next!
David Bishop delivers again in Hometown Secrets. I loved the first of the Linda Darby series and this one is a great second. Can't wait to read the next!
December 22, 2020
David Bishop is one of my favorite authors. This one lived up to his usual excellence.
February 28, 2021
I really liked the first David Bishop book when Linda Darby and Ryan Teslar meet. This book just didn’t have a great plot snd I didn’t find the characters very interesting.
August 3, 2021
Another thoroughly enjoyable read, will definitely keep reading anymore that comes in the series.
August 11, 2021
Nice Read
Enjoyed the book. Not as much as Promises Kept, but still a nice story with good out lasting evil in a small town.
Enjoyed the book. Not as much as Promises Kept, but still a nice story with good out lasting evil in a small town.
March 30, 2022
I really like how David Bishop writes.
July 4, 2022
Really enjoyable
Gosh I really lead a boring life! Though whether the life of Linda Darby would suit me I couldn't say. Maybe with Ryan on my side it might just be fun.
Gosh I really lead a boring life! Though whether the life of Linda Darby would suit me I couldn't say. Maybe with Ryan on my side it might just be fun.
June 19, 2023
Well written; poorly edited.
November 26, 2025
3.5 stars. Engaging story about a woman who returns to her hometown under an alias when her mother dies. The town is controlled by a corrupt former boyfriend.
Read
September 10, 2015My kindle copy has a second cover on page 2 and it is badly offline - so bad that you can’t read the text - kind of offline.
Ewww… squick.
I don’t understand why she has gone home with a false name and in disguise. As if people won’t see through it immediately? And with no car. She can’t leave in a hurry if she needs to. And she keeps going on about how dangerous Billy Cranston is. It seems like a dumb idea to run and then have to wait for the train to arrive and from comments the train stops rarely at this town.
It’s an odd sort of person who remains seated and continues to eat her lunch as a guy, who has been shot, dies on the floor of the diner. Not even a scream or an exclamation.
Very odd indeed.
He was shot in the back of the head? He’d make an enormous mess… way more than he did.
And seeing someone get their brains blown out ought to affect your appetite… just saying.
Now the sheriff is interviewing people IN the diner and not writing anything down. And the body is removed with not even a photo taken of it. Am I too genre savvy or is this set at a time when forensics didn’t exist?
And the evil ex salts his beer - ewww.
Each chapter has a little quote under the heading - like this: “Like Scrooge, Linda had her ghost of Christmases past which she needed to confront so she could move on with her life” (Kindle Location 449).
What??? And why??? And no full stops. It’s as if it was a note for the author and he forgot to take them out before publication.
No. That’s a bad sentence. You don’t fill the kitchen with your story and it sounds as if they stuffed cheese, crackers and apples in the wine bottle. It makes me want to edit it. Now she’s filling in her old friend on her dating history with Billy. She was there; she knows.
This is NOT how people talk.
And it especially isn’t how old girlfriends talk. And the last thing they talk about is the murder; it’d be the first. Omg did you hear…?
Oh, her mother is recently dead. Why did I just get that? And now it makes even LESS sense for her to be using an alias. I checked. She said her mother was dead second sentence, but I didn’t understand she had died recently and she had to come back for the will reading. My mistake.
She’s dead. She’s not going be haranguing you about anything and if you can’t prove you’re her daughter you won’t be getting access to the house, either.
Now there is a strange man in her room who knows her real name AND her alias. And he’s giving her hints on how to take down Cranston. I don’t get why he needs taking down. What did he do that was so horrible, because we haven’t been told yet?
And now she remembers Vera had salt and a beer mug on her counter and was obviously ready for a visit from the bad ex.
Oh wait, this creepy guy set the fire and shot the guy.
What… why? So what was the point of that whole creepy preface if you are just going to tell us it was him a few pages later???
Heh.
Mystery solved. *dusts off hands* closes book.
Did not finish 17%
He had always turned on the spigot of her juices.(Kindle Location 203)
Ewww… squick.
I don’t understand why she has gone home with a false name and in disguise. As if people won’t see through it immediately? And with no car. She can’t leave in a hurry if she needs to. And she keeps going on about how dangerous Billy Cranston is. It seems like a dumb idea to run and then have to wait for the train to arrive and from comments the train stops rarely at this town.
It’s an odd sort of person who remains seated and continues to eat her lunch as a guy, who has been shot, dies on the floor of the diner. Not even a scream or an exclamation.
Very odd indeed.
He was shot in the back of the head? He’d make an enormous mess… way more than he did.
And seeing someone get their brains blown out ought to affect your appetite… just saying.
Now the sheriff is interviewing people IN the diner and not writing anything down. And the body is removed with not even a photo taken of it. Am I too genre savvy or is this set at a time when forensics didn’t exist?
And the evil ex salts his beer - ewww.
Each chapter has a little quote under the heading - like this: “Like Scrooge, Linda had her ghost of Christmases past which she needed to confront so she could move on with her life” (Kindle Location 449).
What??? And why??? And no full stops. It’s as if it was a note for the author and he forgot to take them out before publication.
Over the next three hours, while Linda filled Vera’s kitchen with her story, the two old friends killed a couple bottles of wine, adding in some cheese and crackers and two cut up apples.(Kindle Locations 519-520)
No. That’s a bad sentence. You don’t fill the kitchen with your story and it sounds as if they stuffed cheese, crackers and apples in the wine bottle. It makes me want to edit it. Now she’s filling in her old friend on her dating history with Billy. She was there; she knows.
Vera said, “Our mothers remained congenial, but never developed a close friendship. The few times they tried, their discussions about men sank their efforts. Your mother never married and mine never remarried.”(Kindle Locations 548-549)
This is NOT how people talk.
And it especially isn’t how old girlfriends talk. And the last thing they talk about is the murder; it’d be the first. Omg did you hear…?
Oh, her mother is recently dead. Why did I just get that? And now it makes even LESS sense for her to be using an alias. I checked. She said her mother was dead second sentence, but I didn’t understand she had died recently and she had to come back for the will reading. My mistake.
“I want to see my family home through the eyes of an adult. To experience it without my mother’s constant haranguing about the horrors of men.”(Kindle Locations 589-590)
She’s dead. She’s not going be haranguing you about anything and if you can’t prove you’re her daughter you won’t be getting access to the house, either.
Now there is a strange man in her room who knows her real name AND her alias. And he’s giving her hints on how to take down Cranston. I don’t get why he needs taking down. What did he do that was so horrible, because we haven’t been told yet?
And now she remembers Vera had salt and a beer mug on her counter and was obviously ready for a visit from the bad ex.
Oh wait, this creepy guy set the fire and shot the guy.
What… why? So what was the point of that whole creepy preface if you are just going to tell us it was him a few pages later???
Heh.
Mystery solved. *dusts off hands* closes book.
Did not finish 17%
July 25, 2015
This was a fairly interesting read. Although the plot was sufficiently complex and mostly coherent,the author had trouble keeping his characters' names straight. He twice referred to a prominent character, Creswell, as "Caswell". At least once he said that "Billy" (the villain in the town)took an action when the character in the scene was one of the good guys, Dix. I also found it distracting that so many characters had similar names - and two characters were impersonating others. This led to a lot of confusion in figuring out who said and did what. The book appeared to have been casually edited and polished, so that the finished product was somewhat awkward. There were several examples of sentences that sounded adolescent because of split infinitives (example: to definitely sell it); odd or even incorrect word choices distracted me (example: "fermenting" a rebellion); incorrect verb tenses should have been edited out (examples: "...they are a great many who...". "...a student, whose part of my network." That said, since I downloaded the book either free or very inexpensively, it was okay.
October 9, 2016
The King's Men
Linda Darby is traveling to her hometown of Cranston, Kansas for the reading of her mother's will. She's decided to go early to learn what is going on with the town she grew up in, a town her mother was afraid to make calls from or post letters from, a town run by her first love, Billy Cranston. In addition to arriving early, she travels by train in disguise and under an assumed identity. But her plans to stay in the background fall apart when a man is shot entering the bar where she's having lunch. She's now a witness to a murder, a person of interest because of the timing of her arrival and an army of one in taking her town back from the forces of corruption and greed that have consumed it. She's going to need a bigger army.
This is a great 4.5 star Kindle Unlimited library read.
Linda Darby is traveling to her hometown of Cranston, Kansas for the reading of her mother's will. She's decided to go early to learn what is going on with the town she grew up in, a town her mother was afraid to make calls from or post letters from, a town run by her first love, Billy Cranston. In addition to arriving early, she travels by train in disguise and under an assumed identity. But her plans to stay in the background fall apart when a man is shot entering the bar where she's having lunch. She's now a witness to a murder, a person of interest because of the timing of her arrival and an army of one in taking her town back from the forces of corruption and greed that have consumed it. She's going to need a bigger army.
This is a great 4.5 star Kindle Unlimited library read.
August 5, 2015
Another great Linda Darby Mystery!!
Linda Darby, (under the assumed name Carol Bennett) returns to her home town Kansas for the reading of her mother's will. Always a town she loved, it was run by an ex-lover, who rules with intimidation, an iron fist and bullying others. With everyone scared of the town's founder will Linda be able to release the grasp the he is holding extra tight?
With the help of Ryan, Vera and a few friends Linda sets a plan into play to get rid of the tarnished reputation that the founding family has made on the town. With determination Linda is ready to rid her home town from the dark cloud it's under.
I would recommend anyone who loves a great who done it to read this series. It is easy to follow, and it's an exciting page turner!!
Linda Darby, (under the assumed name Carol Bennett) returns to her home town Kansas for the reading of her mother's will. Always a town she loved, it was run by an ex-lover, who rules with intimidation, an iron fist and bullying others. With everyone scared of the town's founder will Linda be able to release the grasp the he is holding extra tight?
With the help of Ryan, Vera and a few friends Linda sets a plan into play to get rid of the tarnished reputation that the founding family has made on the town. With determination Linda is ready to rid her home town from the dark cloud it's under.
I would recommend anyone who loves a great who done it to read this series. It is easy to follow, and it's an exciting page turner!!
October 20, 2016
Book Two in the Linda Darby Series.
Another wonderful book by David Bishop! I have fallen in love with Linda Darby and Ryan Testler... they are complex, imperfect, human characters. Much like Book One in the series, "The Woman", Hometown Secrets takes you around curves you are not expecting. Riveting from the first words right to the end of the story.
I'm hoping that David will continue Linda's and Ryan's stories... they are folks I'd like to keep in touch with. Especially Ryan... he makes me laugh.
Rating: highly recommended.
Another wonderful book by David Bishop! I have fallen in love with Linda Darby and Ryan Testler... they are complex, imperfect, human characters. Much like Book One in the series, "The Woman", Hometown Secrets takes you around curves you are not expecting. Riveting from the first words right to the end of the story.
I'm hoping that David will continue Linda's and Ryan's stories... they are folks I'd like to keep in touch with. Especially Ryan... he makes me laugh.
Rating: highly recommended.
August 22, 2019
The town of Cranston had become lazy, over confident, he was going to challenge that. Starting now, let the game begin. Linda coming back after 20 years, in disguise, stops to get a bite to eat. A man enters and falls, the bartender, checks him out,he's dead. Wondering about the bartender he was too nimble, too calm, knowing what to do.The sheriff, Reggie, states two things have now happened to this quiet town. All businesses are run by one man Billy. Things need to change for the town and the people. Interesting, a lot of characters that keep you to the end.
September 7, 2019
Linda Darby works with Ryan Testler to clean up corruption in the town she grew up in. Some memories bring a smile, others foreshadow danger, and there are those which cry out for resolution. As the pace quickens she does find love, along with friendship, fear, danger, and opportunity. Clashes of personality and conflicts between the agendas of the principal characters eventually come to peak in ways Linda never anticipated.
May 22, 2015
a small town seethes with petty corruption under a petty tyrant of the ruling family. then an old girl friend returns to town and an old friend of her' s helps return the balance. good story. engaging characters. this is the second book in this series. I suggest reading the first prior to this one to better understand the prime movers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews