After a human corpse from a gruesome murder is discovered at the Carlton County Feed Yard, Sheriff Sam Abbott, Undersheriff Lottie Albright, and her deputy husband know their resources are going to be overstretched. Still, none of their team or the neighboring law enforcement in western Kansas welcomes the idea of a regional crime center.
KBI agent Dimon suggests the murder may not be a simple local affair. Unconvinced, Lottie—still director of the historical society—calls for stories from families whose ancestors were part of groups colonizing Kansas, hoping to uncover information for the investigation. Doña Francesca Diaz, the elderly head of one such clan, arrives at the society with her great-granddaughter. It turns out that the murder victim was Francesca’s great-grandson Victor. Francisca insists she knows why Victor was killed, claiming to have ancient documents that can clarify everything.
At Doña Francesca’s invitation, Lottie visits the Diaz property and gets several surprises. In a drought-ridden area, the land is lush; there are hints of a mysterious family treasure; and Francesca, a fabled curandera with terribly damaged hands, seeks an heir for her herbal knowledge and folk medicine skills. With Victor dead and his sister vowing to become a nun, Francesca has selected Lottie. Reluctant yet fascinated, Lottie agrees. And that’s just the first step into generations of a family history fraught with tension and emotional distress. Will it also hold the key to murder and other terrible crimes?
“A nasty murder pits the local police against the state police…Lottie must use all her many skills to solve a case that has far-reaching ramifications. This third case for Lottie is filled with surprising historical information, social commentary, romance, and a strong mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
At the new frame church built at the corner of four counties in western Kansas, a strangely sinister Episcopal bishop comes to town to conduct a confirmation ceremony. Twins Lottie and Josie Albright, who are attending the ceremony to watch the confirmation of their niece, are agitated by the bishop's scathing sermon. And their pastor, Reverend Mary Farnsworth, has fled to the anti-room after dropping the chalice during communion. Josie, being a psychologist, lingers after the service in hopes of comforting Reverend Mary, but Lottie immediately orders her sister to leave when they discover Reverend Mary's dead body. Lottie, left alone with Bishop Talesbury, is frightened by the bishop's strange rituals for disposing of the spilled wine, but as deputy sheriff, she is duty bound to attend to the death.
When an elderly lady tells Lottie that a man kneeling next to Reverend Mary during the service had scared her into a heart attack, Lottie decides that this was not a natural death and calls in other law-enforcement agencies. She soon learns that their beloved Reverend Mary was a woman without a past and that the rogue bishop has unexpected ties to western Kansas. A sheriff from an adjacent county, unaware that Josie is an FBI consultant, assumes that seizing control of the investigation will be easy and instead arouses the wrath of the twins. Although they are used to double trouble, nothing has prepared them for the malevolence that is stirred up by the death, by some old documents that Lottie uncovers, and by the reemergence of some murderous, century-old rivalries.
A Poisoned Pen Press Mystery
Praise for Deadly Descent: "Historical research is anything but dull in Hinger's debut, which holds your attention every exciting step of the way."—Kirkus Reviews
In historian Lottie Albright's western Kansas community, false accusations threaten senatorial candidate Brian Hadley's political career. Secrets whispered to Lottie as editor of the county history books spur her into a personal search for his aunt's murderer.
Lottie ignores warnings from her twin sister, Josie, that she is in over her head, and dons a badge to gain access to information. Does she really think she can combine historical research methods and police procedure? To help her sister, Josie adds her expertise in untangling the web of families bound by a lethal legacy of prideful secrets. But a clever killer, threatened by the two women's ability to connect the dots, begins to stalk Lottie.
Blindsided by her protective husband's disapproval of her new job and aghast at a bizarre attempt to sabotage her academic credentials, Lottie fears that her obsession is destroying her marriage and her reputation.
A Poisoned Pen Press Mystery
'Historical research is anything but dull in Hinger's debut, which holds your attention every exciting step of the way.''Kirkus Reviews
A powerful drama about the conflict between the homesteaders hewing a perilous existence from the stubborn sod and the ambitious and often unscrupulous town builders with their secret ties to the burgeoning railroads.
