Messages in Time

by Susan Reiss

Part of the BookFest Gold Medal Award-Winning Best Historical Fiction/Mystery Series!
Messages in Time, the third novel in the series, draws Emma into a new adventure when an unannounced visitor shows up on her patio. He is sure Emma’s Uncle Jack had found a valuable artifact from the Civil War that would propel him into the high ranks of American academic historians.
Since Uncle Jack is dead, this man wants the artifact for himself to enhance his own reputation. Emma begins exploring possible answers and a link to TJ’s family when she learns there is someone who will stop at nothing to possess it all. TJ becomes afraid for her as the homicide detective pursues the case.
From the Waterwood attic to library steps to a live antique auction, will Emma solve the puzzle before someone else dies… maybe TJ? Maybe herself?

Unknown Binding

First published November 2, 2022

About the author

Susan Reiss trained as a concert pianist then moved into television as a writer/producer for many years. Her work has received a Silver Medal, New York International Film Festival, the Cine Golden Eagle, three Tellys and numerous Emmy nominations. Reiss has been named a Scribe of the Shore. She delved into the mysteries of plot and character creation as a featured speaker in the Sheldon Goldgeiger Lecture Series. She started collecting sterling silver pieces decades ago and blogs about sterling silver, Eastern Shore life and writing at www.SusanReiss.com.
The complete Silver Mystery series:
1. TARNISHED SILVER
1.5 DEATHLY SILVER
2. SACRED SILVER
3. PAINTED SILVER
4. HAMMERED SILVER
5. FOILED SILVER

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time moves on and Emma now finds herself digging into the history of the civil war again – for a different reason. An actual murder on her patio, which not only draws attention to ‘how and why’, but also leaves Emma in the position of being the first suspect. Against TJ’s advice, she digs in deep to find out what’s going on, and even more so after yet another attempted murder happens. She has also found a very old and special cane that her Uncle left in the cottage that she inherited, and it was never noticed before, due to it being hidden in plain sight. The cottage sits next to the historic Waterwood house, where Emma has previously found clues to the past. Following Emma on her journey to solve the mystery and find the murderer is a very intriguing and mystified story, which I very much enjoyed. The surprise ending was great! I’m so glad to know there’s another ‘Emma’ story yet to come, about one more old mystery to be solved with the help of hidden clues from the huge old Waterwood house where TJ lives. A unique and entertaining story as always, written by Susan Reiss. This is my honest opinion as an ARC reader.

[JBee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow!!!! This series gets better and better with each subsequent book which says a lot because the first book in the series was an absolute winner. While this book can definitely be read as a stand alone, I recommend if you prefer a richer experience to begin with the first book in the series in order to follow the main characters as they evolve over time. The storyline includes some romance, a writing club with some eccentric members, some confederate history (which I hadn’t known about) and some fun information about antiques auctions. Best of all is the feisty main character who has an ability to connect with the past via an antique desk. The characters are so well described and interesting that I found myself drawn in to their situations, sometimes annoyed and sometimes nodding with an 'ah'. There is tension and angst over some harrowing situations (I consider finding an unexpected dead body to be harrowing!) It was as though I was right along the characters as they went about their daily lives and solved the murder investigation.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has several different mysteries that need to be solved in tandem: the murder of course, but also the mystery of what the Civil War relic is and why does everyone want it. I enjoyed this new trip into Emma’s life and the historical information on The Civil War was interesting. However I wish there had been more interaction with the ghosts since I missed that.