Her dear friend is dead. She finds the body. Follow Stella Kirk and Detective Aiden North as they uncover Paulina McAdams' secrets. Will a diary reveal her life story once the code is broken? In their search for answers, Stella and Aiden untangle the clues of a clandestine affair, a long-held confidence, and a past indiscretion refusing to be left behind. Did a series of random encounters ultimately lead to blackmail and murder?This third Stella Kirk Mystery returns the reader to the tiny tourist community of Shale Harbour, located near Shale Cliffs RV Park, across the isthmus from the mainland. Stella continues to be riddled with anxiety related to her relationship with her lover and park manager, Nick Cochran, and troubled by the relationships she can't quite maintain with her sister and her demented father. Personal growth often steps aside when there is a murder in town.
Fictional Truth:
The Shale Harbour First Annual Writers Retreat ends almost before it begins when a budding author is found dead at the bottom of the stairs at the Community Hall and Playhouse. He was a collector of the secrets of others; an unpleasant young man disliked by most. The workshop instructors have questionable backgrounds, partake in clandestine affairs, and are cloaked in confidential circumstances. Stella Kirk and Aiden North sort through the noise, understand the victim's methods, and finally determine what is fiction and what is truth.
