Murder serves as a cover-up to contaminated land

Last week I was reading a book that I really didn’t want to rush through, and I’m glad I didn’t. “Murder in the Mountains” by Helen Goodman was worth a nice, slow read.

This is one of Goodman’s seven books in the Allison Aldridge Mystery series, so I definitely want to read more of them.

Leona Whitley and her husband, Dick, ran a well-known apple orchard just outside of Upton, North Carolina. Due to Leona being a late-in-life baby, she and her niece Allison were only a few years apart in age and formed a strong bond.

Allison spent most of her summers helping Dick and Leona with their apples. They became even closer after Dick’s early death. Allison grew up, went to college, became a Phy. Ed teacher, married and had a son and a daughter.

After the first marriage failed, Allison’s snoopy nature brought her to become an amateur sleuth, solving several crimes. During one such case, Allison met and fell in love with Detective Fred Sawyer. Fred soon retired from the force, and the two are enjoying life as a middle aged married couple. But that serene quiet is spoiled by a call from Sheriff Sam Babcock.

He tells Allison that her beloved aunt has died in a fall down her basement steps. Shocked and heartbroken, Allison makes plans to head for Upton. Sadly, Fred has a school safety conference in Dallas and can’t accompany her. They plan to stay in touch until he can join her.

Once in Upton, Allison goes directly to the sheriff’s office to find out how the accident happened. The report states that her gentleman friend Harry found Leona. She must have gone to the basement but slipped and fell, hitting her head. A cookbook open to an apple pie recipe was open on the table. But that explanation doesn’t sound right to Allison.

If Leona was going to the basement, she would have turned on the light, and it was off. Leona was a master baker and never needed a recipe, and Leona never locked her doors, but Harry had to use a key to get in. A visit to the funeral home brings up another question. Her fresh nail polish was smudged. If Leona was planning to go out to dinner with Harry, why would she go to the basement before her polish dried?
Allison can’t wait for Fred to arrive, but a freak snowstorm has him trapped in Dallas. Then when he tries to drive to Upton, he ends up in a hospital after a car crash. Sharing her concerns with Sam spurs a further investigation.

Officer Andy Cox is assigned to the case, and Allison immediately sees a lot of her son, Dan, in the young officer. Together they look into a probable stalker hanging around the farm. While walking the property, Allison discovers that the once-pristine Cider Creek is stained and probably contaminated.

When Andy stops at an abandoned paper mill, he is captured. Soon the “dumpers” have Allison in their clutches, too. It takes a miraculous rescue from an unexpected individual to get them to safety. But just when it looks like they have the culprit figured out, the plot takes a wild twist. As the killer closes in, Allison will need not only her wits, but also a lot of luck on her side.

We all know that friends aren’t always friends and those we sometimes fear are harmless, but a good author can make you wonder right up to the last chapter. Your public library has dozens of books that will keep you guessing. This would be a good week to drop by and check it out.

AT A GLANCE
BOOK: “Murder in the Mountains”
AUTHOR: Helen Goodman
PUBLISHER: Alabaster Book Publishing
PUBLISHED: April 13, 2015
PAGES: 223