Scare the Light Away

This is the second of Vicki Delany's books that I have read in the last month. I was really delighted with this stand-alone mystery and would like to recommend it highly. It is written in a style that I enjoy very much. It has a present-day storyline and it also has a diary interspersed throughout that tells a tale of the past. I am a great fan of epistolary books and mysteries. This is, for me, the best of both worlds. I loved the Canadian setting, loved the strong main character, Rebecca, and loved the story of her mother, Janet, a British war bride.

Vancouver bank executive and widow Rebecca McKenzie swore she would never return to her home town of Hope River. However, the only person who could ever possibly get Rebecca to return, her beloved mom, died so she has come home for the funeral. Her father welcomes her as if she was never away; her older sister Shirley resents her; her older brother Jimmy wants her to forgive him for his behavior as a teen towards her when he emulated their sociopathic grandfather with Rebecca being an abused victim. Her dad gives her diaries that her mom kept especially during World War II when she a Brit, married a Canadian soldier and relocated to Canada where she met "It" her terrorizing father-in-law. In town, she is accosted by two angry men who blame Jimmy as a former convict for the disappearance of a popular high school student, Jennifer Taylor. As Rebecca meets her nieces, nephews and other relatives for the first time and reads the diaries she begins to feel for her father and her siblings. As the trio reconciles Rebecca investigates what happened to Jennifer since she no longer believes the reformed Jimmy did anything. SCARE THE NIGHT AWAY is a fabulous Canadian family drama with the suspense that comes in the latter half of the tale serving as the catalyst towards bringing an estrange family together. The story line is character driven mostly by Rebecca and how she relates with her father, her siblings, their spouses, children, and grandchildren. The diary serves as a solid subplot describing Rebecca's sociopath grandfather terrorizing her parents. Readers will enjoy the cell phone ending to a strong character study. Harriet Klausner