Bleeding Through

July 9, 2012
Parshall’s satisfying fifth Rachel Goddard mystery (after 2011’s Under the Dog Star) finds the northern Virginia veterinarian living with her beau, Deputy Sheriff Tom Bridger, and dealing with a case that literally hits too close to home. Shortly before her sister, Michelle, arrives for a stay at the couple’s old farmhouse, Rachel and Tom come across the body of missing law school student Shelley Beecher along a highway in rural Mason County. In the subsequent investigation, Tom unearths tensions that have festered in the county ever since Shelley’s attempt to exonerate convicted murderer Vince Lankford for beating another man, Brian Hadley, to death. Meanwhile, Rachel struggles to rescue Michelle from a breakdown brought on by vicious calls and texts from a stalker who appears to have followed her from her Maryland home. Well-developed characters complement the well-paced plot.

August 15, 2012
Are two stalkers better than one? Veterinarian Rachel Goddard and her boyfriend, Deputy Sheriff Tom Bridger, are supervising a group of teens cleaning trash when they find the body of a law student reported missing months ago in northern Virginia. Shelley Beecher had been working for the Innocence Project on the case of Vance Lankford, a local musician imprisoned for murdering fellow band member Brian Hadley. Although both men have roots in rural Mason County, their families haven't exactly bonded. The Hadleys, who'd threatened Shelley for trying to help Vance, are still tormenting Vance's parents. Tom has his hands full handling the volatile feud while trying to hunt down a murderer. As she considers the ins and outs of Shelley's death, Rachel gets a visit from her sister Michelle, who's terrified by a stalker her husband is not sure exists. The two sisters, who were stolen from their birth mother years before, have yet to come to terms with their past. Rachel confirms the stalker's reality when she gets threatening phone calls and her office is broken into. Since she once had her own problems with a stalker who's been committed to a mental hospital, but is currently out on a family visit, she wonders if the two stalkers might be the same. When their two cases combine, Rachel and Tom face imminent danger. Rachel's fifth adventure (Under the Dog Star, 2011, etc.) combines nervewracking suspense with a twisty mystery.

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September 1, 2012

When a stalker terrorizes veterinarian Rachel and her sister, Sheriff Tom Bridger helps the best he can, but he's got a murdered law student on his hands. Parshall's suspenseful procedural is the fifth in her Agatha Award-nominated series (after Under the Dog Star). [See Prepub Alert, 7/2/12.]

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