In the Shadow of Lakecrest
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Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Release Date: February 1, 2017
Pages: 282
ISBN13: 978-1503941847
Synopsis
The year is 1928, and Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.
After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?
Add on GoodreadsPraise
“Expertly crafted…The simmering undercurrent that something ominous is about to happen runs throughout the entire novel, resulting in a true page-turner.”
—Publishers Weekly
Excerpt
I never should have met Matthew Lemont.
I’d seen him on the ship, of course, stretched out on a deck chair, his impossibly handsome face staring intently at his book. I’d noticed his irritation when one of the pushy, overdressed flappers hovering around tried to strike up a conversation. I’d thought those few days at sea were my last, best chance to meet the kind of man my mother had always urged me to marry: someone well-off and well-bred, the gateway to a stable future. But Matthew seemed beyond my reach. A man like him—obviously rich, with a preference for solitude—would never cross paths with a girl like me. Until July 18, 1928, a date branded in my memory as clearly as my own birthday.
As I stood alone at the rail of the RMS Franconia, I saw him approaching from the corner of my eye. I could have ignored him, let him pass. I knew nothing then about the Lemonts or Lakecrest. I knew nothing of the infamous Labyrinth and the secrets it held. Even if I had, I doubt I would have been able to resist. I leaned out a touch too far, looking intently at the horizon, and gave Matthew an opening to approach me.
He took it. And everything changed.