When Gracie McBride, the wild girl who had left town eighteen years earlier, is found dead in an apparent suicide shortly after her homecoming, it sends shock waves through her native Starvation Lake. Gus Carpenter, executive editor of the Pine County Pilot, sets out to solve the mystery with the help of his old flame and now girlfriend, Pine County sheriff deputy Darlene Esper. As Gus and Darlene investigate, they can’t help but question if Gracie’s troubled life really ended in suicide or if the suspicious crime-scene evidence adds up to murder.
But in such a small town it’s impossible to be an impartial investigator—Gracie was Gus’s second cousin; Darlene’s best friend; and the lover of Gus’s oldest pal, Soupy Campbell. Yet with all the bad blood between Gus and Gracie over the years, Gus is easily distracted by other problems. His employer is trying to push him out, the locals are annoyed that his stories have halted construction on a new hockey rink, and Darlene’s estranged husband has returned to reclaim his wife.
When Gus tries to retrace Gracie’s steps to discover what happened to her in the eighteen years she was away from Starvation Lake, he’s forced to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. And though he’s determined to find out what drove Gracie back home, Gus is unprepared for the terrible secrets he uncovers.
The second book in Bryan Gruley’s irresistible Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree is a compelling story about family and friendship, sex and violence, and the failure of love to make everything right.
Jackie's review:
This is the second installment in the Starvation Lake mysteries, and it's even better than the first. Small town newspaperman Gus Carpenter is back and once again investigating something the townsfolk would rather he not. Gracie McBride, a malcontent for most of her rough youth, had left Starvation Lake years ago, but then came back, a quiet loner who lived on the fringes of the local community. Then one cold morning after a terrible snow storm, she was found hanging from what the locals call "The Shoe Tree"--a huge tree that decades of teenagers have been hanging tied together shoes to announce their 'coupledom'. Local law enforcement call it a suicide, but things just don't add up for Gus. There are no cars or car tracks in the deep snow. No ladder to climb the tree with. And no reason other than a rejection letter from an employer. Gus risks everything, including his life, to dig into the mystery, and uncovers a far bigger and deeply sinister story that involves not only Gracie but the entire town and it's economic survival. Once again Gruley keeps the pace fast and the clues coming until the surprising end.
Come meet the author on September 30 at 7:30 pm at our Highlands Ranch Store.
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