Dahlia's Gone

From AwardAnnals

Book:	Dahlia's Gone: A Novel
Author:	Katie Estill
Honors:	2007 Hammett nominee Score: 6.57
Genres:	Mystery/Suspense books Fiction books
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press

“A promise can change a life. Even a small, casual promise extended without much thought or contemplation.” So learns Sand Williams, who has returned to her childhood home in the Ozarks for a much-needed rest after years of working abroad as a journalist. She and her husband, Frank, a hydrologist who loves caves, have moved into a cabin that Sand inherited from her father on the beautiful Seven Point River. A mile upstream from Sand lives Norah Everston, and the two women couldn’t be more different. The only thing they have in common is the boundary of their land, but when Norah asks Sand to look in on her children when she and her husband go traveling, Sand reluctantly agrees, because she grew up in the Ozarks believing that you helped your neighbor out.

The kids are Timothy and Dahlia, the children of Norah and Lyman by previous marriages. Lyman’s daughter, Dahlia, eighteen and a winsome blonde, is working to raise funds for college, while Norah’s son, Timothy, a big, handsome boy described as “slow,” goes to a special class in high school. The teenagers have never fully adjusted to their parents’ marriage, and the family is also divided by the subject of religion and the very strict church that Norah and Timothy faithfully attend. The teenagers have never been left alone before, and Norah, who doesn’t like Sand very much, has asked her to look after them for convenience sake.

Dahlia’s Gone is the story of three remarkable women whose lives are profoundly changed by the murder of Dahlia Everston: Sand, who makes the grisly discovery; Norah, the victim’s grieving step-mother, who comes to blame Sand for the tragedy; and Patty Callahan, who leads the investigation of Dahlia’s brutal murder. Patti, the only female deputy in Weleda County, is a woman of secrets, secrets that include her intimate and influential relationship with Sand’s deceased father, who was the owner and publisher of the local newspaper.

This mesmerizing narrative beautifully and suspensefully explores the aftermath of tragedy, and the process of facing the truth. In Dahlia’s Gone, Katie Estill has created brought to life three unforgettable characters whose lives intersect in both dramatic and mysterious ways. Dahlia’s Gone looks unflinchingly at what’s been lost, but in the end this is a story about redemption, the beauty of hope, and the soul-healing friendship that can be forged among women.

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