A State of Grace

Mystery and the Minister's Wife #2

by Traci Depree

Escape to the charming town of Copper Mill, Tennessee. Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Copper Mill is a place of tradition and tranquility, where neighbors work together and life moves at a slower pace. But when Kate Hanlon and her husband Paul, the new pastor of Faith Briar Church, move in, they quickly find out that small town life is anything but boring. The mysteries that Kate discovers in Copper Mill are puzzling, but she always uses her quick, curious mind and the help of her friends to figure out the answer. Come see how faith can solve life's mysteries in Mystery and the Minister's Wife series.----The Hanlons are settling in to Copper Mill, but already Kate has stumbled onto another mystery. A condolence call to a grieving widow, Patricia Harris, uncovers a long-buried When she was seventeen, Patricia gave birth to twins; one was given up for adoption. Now the daughter she kept is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. With no matching donors, her only real hope is to find her twin sister. With a life on the line, can Kate track down her missing twin before it's too late?

Genres: Christian Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Christian, Cozy Mystery

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Traci DePree is the author of nine books. She loves creating new worlds where readers can escape the demands of everyday life and discover a deeper place of faith where true hope resides. She makes her home in a rural town in Minnesota where she fills her days with books, volunteering, gathering with friends and loved ones, playing a little tennis, riding dirt bike, as well as sewing and knitting! She and her husband of almost 26 years have five kids, ranging in age from twenty-two to six.

Reviews

[Sarah]

While I enjoyed this somewhat, the mystery was very predictable and easy to figure out. The writing was stong at points and weak in others. I still enjoyed reading this book

[Cheryl]

Kate and Paul are settling into town after he becomes the new minister. Kate is wondering what she will find to do in the smaller town with her kids grown. she decides to make her stained glass hobby into a job and to make a surprise window for the church. She also finds a woman whose daughter has leukemia and goes out of her way to help her. Pastor Paul stays busy trying to get two brothers to stop fighting.

[Donna]

Traci Depree is one of my favorite authors. Somehow I had tucked this book away and forgotten all about it. I just found it this weekend and read it in one night. This was such a touching story which was actually two stories intertwined. One story was a light-hearted almost comical story about two brothers fighting over a dog and that alternated with a more serious story about a family that was going through some very hard times alone. A woman who had recently lost her husband and then found her college age daughter was suffering with leukemia had chosen to close herself off from everyone she knew, including her church family and God. Kate, wife of the new pastor of Faith Brier Church decided to try her best to break through the walls this woman had built up around her.

[Lavender]

This is one of my go-to series. I love it! It's a perfect blend of mystery that keeps me guessing, but also doesn't keep me up at night. This was a re-read because I have bought more in the series and I wanted to read them in order.

[Sharon]

Fun, easy to read mystery. This is the second book in the series, and having not read the first this one is a good stand alone on it's own. The mystery is fairly easy to follow, yet not predictable as the ending caught me by surprise!! A Guidepost book.

[Debby]

Yes, it is a sappy cozy mystery that will turn out happy in the end, but... who doesn't love a happy ending? This book is a quick read on a rainy day and will lift your spirits. Yes, the results happen too quickly, not like reality. It just means you get a faster happy ending. I like this series.

[Parker Hankins]

Awesome, awesome story!! I loved the mystery and how touching this story was!! It was an amazing story, and I recommend to anyone!!

[Samantha Cornwell]

It was a good book!

[Lynn Everett]

A quick, easy and refreshing read as I love happy endings.

[Karen]

A pretty predictable mystery. A believable plot. An ok book.

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[ANNETTE]

Wonderful book about faith filled with community bonding. I liked the way everyone pulls together. Just wasn't too sure about the "mystery" part of the story .

[Michelle]

This is the second "Minister's Wife Mystery" that I've read. Like many series published by Guideposts the individual books are frequently by different authors. In this one, the mystery is very mild but the characters are well written and that is more the focus of the story. However, I did think that the subplot about the brothers and the dog was unnecessary (and even distracting) from the main story. The effort to tie that into the main story near the end was a reach.

[Julie Akeman]

Not a bad story, being a Guideposts publication it was of course very faith filled and showed the bonds of the church community, how it should be. I know some places are not like that, though my church is not perfect it seems to be very community minded. There was a little surprising twist to the story, but I'm not giving that up. Perfect read for Christian fiction lovers, it's a mystery but not a who dunnit or any sort of murder mystery but a great cozy read.

[Jonathan M.]

This book was really good. There was no mystery but they needed grace because this girl has blood cancer. She needed a marrow donor. They thought her sister could have it but she didn't have one. This man named Jack Wilson. So she was saved. Not really a mystery in this one, only about Paticira's life. And her 2 daughters.

[Kristy]

Slightly better than book 1. I liked the idea of why Elvis possibly named Graceland as he did (Grace Land, land of grace).

Likely to read rest of series: I honestly thought these two were it, until just now when I looked here and saw that there were more in the series. Definitely not going to make it through any more.

[Camiwar]

I very much enjoyed this book - fairly light reading. It was a pleasant surprise as I had just happened upon it at Goodwill. It's not a mystery in the sense of crime or murder, but some things need to be found out for the good of the characters -- such a great surprise ending, in my opinion. Subplots of grieving and adoption, not to mention forgiveness.

[Leanne Cragun]

I didn't like this book as well as the first books I read by this author. The ending was too obvious, though I do like happy endings. I could predict the ending almost from the beginning. Overall it was okay and it was an easy read.

[Carmen]

Described as a mystery, I felt a bit lost. The mystery is who owns a dog and how to help someone solve a medical problem. I don't think of these things when I hear mystery. But the story was good, well-written, I just think the theme was a bit juvenile.

[Pat]

I wouldn't really call this series "mystery", but I like them. Easy to read and the plots move along quickly and they are faith- based.

[Tiffany]

This wasn't really much of a mystery. It was more about the importance of relationships. The characters are lovable in this series so they are just nice, easy, uplifting reads.

[Jenny]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a story that was easily believeable and the author drew me in, and I felt like I was part of the search for Marissa's twin sister.

[Barbara Campbell]

http://bookaholicconfessions.blogspot...

Enjoyable read... DePree is high on my favorite author's list!

[R.J. Kottke]

Fun light mysteries

[Allie]

More like 4.5 stars! I enjoyed this a lot more as I got into it! I loved the ending!

[Linda Williams]

This is definitely the second book of the series but could be read
anytime. Very enjoyable.