Stranger in Paradise (A Carson Springs Novel)
Doing what she does best, popular author Eileen Goudge has created the  seemingly idyllic town of Carson Springs, along the golden coast of California  near Santa Barbara. InStranger in Paradise, the first novel in a new  trilogy, the tranquil surface of Carson Springs unsuccessfully hides the  murmurings of discontent; amid the gentle hum of the famous honeybee hives at  the local convent, real problems exist. It's hard to believe that the wedding of  Alice Kiley to her much older fiancé, Wes Carpenter, would presage the end of  the comfortable existence of Alice's widowed mother, Sam, and her divorced older  sister, Laura. But a dead car and a gatecrasher at the reception are only the  beginning of the changes that will rock the Kiley family and the town of Carson  Springs.Sam catches a ride from the church back to the reception at her home with her  new son-in-law's son, Ian Carpenter, the beach-boy-handsome artist, only to  discover a hungry runaway girl named Finch stealing food. When Sam finds herself  hotly pursued by a man young enough to be her son--her younger daughter's new  stepson to boot--the temptation to say yes is just too great, and the encounter  leaves Sam and Ian with a joint project in the making. Alice is horrified by her  mother's actions, but her sister Laura is too busy trying to break through  Finch's mistrust and heal her wounds to care. Sam, Alice, and Laura struggle  against others' expectations of them and their own visions of each other. When a  string of gruesome murders occurs, the darkness seething beneath Carson Springs'  surface threatens to overwhelm the Kiley women and the men who love them. Goudge  has produced another roller coaster of a read withStranger in Paradise.  Fasten your seat belts before you start this one!--Alison Trinkle--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.