Hard Truth: A Novel

Love this series! Has a little bit of romance while solving the mystery.

The second of four books in Stewart's Truth series, this book also stands alone. I started in the wrong order and began with Dark Truth first, so reading parts of this book felt like I could forsee where a sub-plot is going, but it doesn't take away from the greatness of the book at all. I hope people don't pigeonhole this book as romantic-suspense, in case anyone is prejudiced that way. Stewart started out as a romance writer and has now broken out of the genre, which is good for us and for her -- her romances didn't seem that memorable. The protagonist is a 30-something CPA coming back home to take care of the family farm house after her mom's passing. What she thought was gonna be a short but sentimental trip turned out to be an adventure, after real estate developers uncovered a dead body in the field. It only gets better from there, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's reading, you'll see that the plot gets pretty prurient very fast. The characters are fun, the dialogue believable (down to the accent), the plotting is impeccable. A total keeper book for me.

I am relatively new to reading Mariah Stewart, but I am rapidly adding her books to my personal library. Hard Truth was the 2nd of her books I've read, and I've gone back for more each time I have been to the book sections of my local stores. Not only does the plot twist and turn in ways you'd never expect and have a jaw dropping ending, but Ms. Stewart has a talent for bringing to life engaging characters that you genuinely like and want to see more of. no one dimensional people in these books. I'm enjoying meeting all these people and seeing them recur in future novels. If you haven't picked up a Mariah Stewart, you are missing out!!!

Nine years old Melinda Egan vanished without a trace. Not long afterward her older brother Jason, a nasty youngster, also disappeared. The locals assume they just ran off. Years later, a section of the Stiles farm is sold. To the shock of the new owner, human bones are found that are later identified as those of Jason. At about the same time Lorna Stiles has returned home to settle her late mother's estate. She is totally unsatisfied with the police investigation because she demands to know what happened to her best friend Melinda. Her friend Regan Landry introduces Lorna to former FBI Agent T.J. Dawson, a private investigator, who agrees to look into the murders especially the disappearance of Melinda. As Lorna fears a family member is a serial killer who used or perhaps still using the Stiles farm as a personal cemetery, T.J. soon believes his job is to keep Lorna safe from this murdering psychopath who he feels still lives. Mariah Stewart is simply amazing as she has over the past few months consistently kept the quality level of her thrillers stratospherically high though she has released several novels. Her current tale, HARD TRUTH, is a fabulous romantic investigative thriller that never slows down from the moment the first corpse is found until the climax. Fans will want to read the previous tale COLD TRUTH and look forward to the next story DARK TRUTH as this is an author who provides fantastic serial killer tales that keep the audience's attention throughout. Harriet Klausner

Lorna Temple has come home to say goodby to her mom,who has just died of cancer and to get the family home ready to be sold. She is a CPA and can run her business from wherever she is. A few days after she gets home a body is found on the land her family sold to pay her mother's doctor bills. Then another body is found, and then another. Finally four bodies are found. T J Dawson is a private detective, who is suggested by her friend, Regan Landry. He is a former FBI agent and since selling his agency he is between jobs and willing to help Lorna.Because of the disappearance of her best friend when she was 9, Lorna wants to find some answers. Who was killing people and burying them on her family's farm 25 years ago. Melinda Eagen and her brother Jason disappeared when Lorna was 9 and now the bones of one of the bodies proves to be Jason's. Their mother Billie Eagen is accused by the sheriff of the murder and arrested. Lorna finds out that her mother had befriended Billie, and when she talks to her she is convinced that she didn't do it. She knew that Billie had been an alcoholic and was abusive to her children. But the loss of her kids had caused her to stop drinking and clean up her act. Now with more bodies, the deeper Lorna and TJ dig the more questions come up. Since the sheriff isn't willing to investigate more fully maybe Lorna and TJ have to. Someone is a serial killer and he is probably still around. I enjoyed the story and I liked the way her books keep some characters from other stories. So we have a continueing thread in each novel.