In the second installment of Patricia Raybon's critically acclaimed mystery series, amateur detective Annalee Spain races the clock to solve the murder of a handsome young pilot before she is framed for the crime―and before his dashing twin falls head over heels for her, tempting her promised heart.
On a cold spring night in 1924, Annalee Spain offers her new fancy lace handkerchief―a gift from her pastor boyfriend Jack Blake―to a young woman crying in a Denver public library. But later that night, when police find the handkerchief next to the body of the young woman's murdered husband, Annalee becomes the number one suspect, and her panic doubles when she learns that Jack has gone missing.
With just days to solve the murder before the city's Klan-run police frame her for the crime, Annalee finds herself hunting for clues in the Colorado mountain town of Estes Park. She questions the victim's wife and her uncle, a wealthy Denver banker, at their mountain lodge, desperate for leads. Instead, she finds a household full of suspects and even more burning questions. Who keeps threatening her, why can't she find Jack, and will a dangerous flirtation be her undoing? Her answers plumb the depths of the human heart, including her own, exploring long-buried secrets, family lies, even city politics―all of which could cost the young detective her fledgling love . . . and perhaps even her life.
From award-winning author Patricia Raybon comes a compelling new historical mystery series, a riveting puzzle about a young Black theologian--and Sherlock fan--trying to solve her father's cold-case murder in a city ruled by the KKK.
It's the winter of 1923 and Professor Annalee Spain―a clever but overworked theologian at a small Chicago Bible college--receives a cryptic telegram calling her home to Denver to solve the murder of her beloved but estranged father.
For a young Black woman, searching for answers in a city ruled by the KKK could mean real danger. Still, with her literary hero Sherlock Holmes as inspiration, Annalee launches her hunt for clues, attracting two surprising allies: Eddie, a relentless young orphan boy searching for his missing father, and Jack, a handsome young pastor who loves nightclub dancing and fast cars--awakening Annalee's heart to the surprising highs and lows of romance and love.
With their help, Annalee follows clues that land her among Denver's powerful elite. But when her sleuthing unravels sinister motives and long-buried lies, will daring Annalee become a victim, too?
“Mom, I have something I need to tell you…”
They didn’t talk. Not for 10 years. Not about faith anyway. Instead, a mother and daughter tiptoed with pain around the deepest gulf in their lives—the daughter’s choice to leave the church, convert to Islam, and become a practicing Muslim. Undivided is a real-time story of healing and understanding with alternating chapters from each as they struggle to learn how to love each other in a whole new way.
Although this is certainly a book for mothers and daughters struggling with interfaith tensions, it is equally meaningful for mothers and daughters divided by tensions in general. It is an important work for parents whose adult children have left the family’s belief system and for those same children to better understand their parents. And Undivided is an up close and personal look at the life of an Islamic convert—at a time when attitudes are mixed about Muslims (and Muslim women in particular), but interest in such women is high.
Undivided is a tremendously important book for our time. Will Patricia be able to fully trust in the Christ who “holds all things together?” Will Alana find new hope or new understanding as the conversation gets deeper between them? And can they answer the question that both want desperately to experience, which is “Can we make our torn family whole again?”
