Title: 1 Ragged Ridge Road
First published: 1997
Description: The once-glorious mansion needs repair, but everything about it - the chestnut moldings, the soaring foyer, the grand staircase and twenty-two rooms - filled Carol Roblins with hope from the moment she saw it. This was the home that would replace the cramped quarters of her husband's army base. Maybe the fresh start would improve the relationship between Blake and their learning-disabled son, Sammy, giving their crumbling marriage one last chance.

But before they can resolve the tensions between them, Blake leaves for a military assignment in Europe. Alone with Sammy in their new home, Carol delves into her restoration, fired by a dream of opening a bed-and-breakfast, "The Christmas Inn." As she recovers long-lost blueprints and research the mansion's history, she learns it was once home to a storybook couple - and a shocking murder....

Piece by piece, Carol uncovers the glittering lives - and shattering tragedy - of Charles and Veronica. But the more questions she asks, the more hostile the townspeople become. Soon she discovers secrets within the house itself: hints of a forbidden desire, a terrible jealousy, and a woman's lies. In the face of terrifying anonymous threats - and fearing for Sammy's safety - Carol makes solving the murder her personal quest.

But as her world and Veronica's begin to blur together, she spirals closer to the shocking truth - a discovery that someone in her small town would kill to keep hidden.
Subjects: Fiction, Murder, Conservation and restoration, Learning disabled children, Mansions, New York Times reviewed
Places: Pennsylvania
LC classification: PS3556.O36 A613 1997