Under a Dark Sky

June 1, 2018
A recent widow confronts her demons and a whole lot more during a trip to the Michigan wilderness.Eden Wallace has always been afraid of the dark, but that didn't stop her husband, Army veteran Bix Wallace, from booking a cabin in Michigan's Straits Point International Dark Sky Park to mark their 10th anniversary. Ironically, Bix misses the celebration when his drunken driving ends his life, along with those of four others, nine months before the big day; it's not till after his death that Eden even learns of the reservation. Even worse, when she arrives at Dark Sky Park, she realizes that Bix, whether deliberately or not, didn't book the whole cabin, only a suite in a building she'll be sharing with five college chums and the new girlfriend of one of them. Dev, Paris, Sam, and Martha all make it clear that they'd love to see Eden leave. Only Malloy and Hillary, his new girlfriend, make any gestures of friendship, and those are cut in half when Eden's awakened by a scream that pulls her to the kitchen, where Malloy is lying dead, a screwdriver in his neck. Since there's no chance that his demise was accidental, his old buddies instantly fall to accusing each other as well as Hillary and Eden, the newcomers who've crashed their circle. The questions posed by Park Director Warren Hoyt, Emmet County Sheriff Jeffrey Barrows, and Officer Bridget Cooley will all play a role in determining whodunit, but not before another participant in the reunion takes a header down the stairs, still another is poisoned, and Eden, still grieving the death of her husband, realizes that she has a previous connection to the group she's been thrown into that's both unwelcome and ugly.Rader-Day (The Day I Died, 2017, etc.) juices her young-widow setup with enough soul-searching, menace, and dirty linen to make you think of Mary Higgins Clark with teeth bared.

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June 18, 2018
When 34-year-old Eden Wallace, the narrator of this cleverly plotted mystery from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Rader-Day (The Day I Died), discovers that her deceased husband, Bix, was planning a 10th anniversary surprise at a remote Michigan stargazing resort, she decides to keep the reservation. With no work to distract her, Eden is still grief-stricken nine months after Bix’s death, and she wants to spend time alone in an environment far from her Chicago home. However, she no sooner arrives at the resort than she learns the intimate cottage she envisioned is to be shared with six 20-somethings gathered for some sort of college reunion. After one of the six is murdered, suspicions turn friend against friend and, by turns, each against Eden. It’s a great setting for a murder, and each of Rader-Day’s prickly millennials feels capable of murder—to say nothing of sleep-deprived, near hysterical Eden. Readers will have fun following the subtle clues. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management.

June 1, 2018
On a whim, Eden Wallace decides to take the stargazing anniversary trip that her husband arranged before his death, hoping to contemplate her new normal in solitude. Unfortunately, a reservation snafu leaves her sharing Dark Sky Park's rental cabin with six reuniting college friends. With solitude out of the question, Eden decides to leave the next day. That plan changes when Malloy, the charismatic center of her cabin mates' group, is murdered, with all six survivors, including Eden, becoming suspects. Determined to clear herself, Eden leverages hints of resentment among her fellow suspects to coax out confessions of lies and betrayals. Eden's newfound interrogation skills may not be enough to save her, though, as the police begin eyeing her more closely and Malloy's killer targets the final six. Eden, long content to bow to her late husband's wishes, discovers her inner survivor as she digs for the killer. A tense tale of murder among old friends featuring an evolving protagonist and high-stakes mind games.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

March 15, 2018

So distraught over her husband's death that she's given up both work and hobbies and is starting to alienate her family, Eden Wallace discovers that he had booked a week at a dark sky park (where no artificial light intrudes) and decides to go herself. But her presumed private guest suite is crowded with rowdy postcollege types, and a murder in the night means she must stick it out. With a 30,000-copy hardcover and 75,000-copy paperback first printing.

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