Just when everything is
going beautifully for archaeologist Emma Fielding-- a position at a
respected university, a beautiful home in New England, and the warm love
of a devoted husband-- her world starts to crumble. What begins as a
series of seemingly innocent gestures-- the anonymous delivery of gifts
and flowers to Emma's family and friends-- soon progresses to secret,
sadistic acts designed to destroy her reputation, her character, and her
career.
Someone has instituted a brilliantly insidious campaign of
personal terror against Emma Fielding, and she is certain she knows who
it is: a cunning and dangerous enemy whom everyone but she believes is
dead. But with no proof, no clues, and no allies, Emma will have to
fight alone in the dark to rescue a life being rapidly reduced to
ashes... if she can survive long enough to do so.
The past's blood stains the present
The
opportunity of a lifetime awaits archaeologist Emma Fielding in the
Berkshire foothills of Western Massachusetts: the chance to study the
eighteenth-century diary of Margaret Chandler, the accused witch and
murderess whose home Emma excavated only months before. However, the
three other Shrewsbury Foundation fellows she must share the premises
with are a disturbingly odd bunch, and before too long one of them is
dead.
But Emma can find no solace in the bleak beauty of the
surrounding wilderness, for there are dark secrets encoded in Madam
Chandler's writings, and shocking parallels between an ancient slaying
and the strange brutal demise of her colleague.
When the killer
strikes again, Emma realizes her own life is at stake. And suddenly
there is no choice left: she is driven to investigate bloody crimes past
and present -- before her own death becomes a footnote in a chilling,
three-centuries-old story.
Asked
to join a dig at the site of the eighteenth-century Chandler House,
archaeologist Emma Fielding and her student crew have descended upon
Stone Harbor, Massachusetts. But certain residents of the tiny coastal
community are none too happy about Emma's arrival -- especially when her
excavation uncovers a pair of freshly slain corpses. There are dark
forces at play in this dangerously divided town, where a distrust of
strangers wars with a desire for tourist dollars. And when a young
local's life is snuffed out, Emma is determined to get to the twisted
roots of the strange secrets buried in this killing ground. But a
mystery that lies among the tumbled ruins of a once grand manor could
change Stone Harbor forever. And for some murderous someone, one more
death -- Emma's -- would be a small price to pay to keep it hidden.
