However, doubts soon begin to surface and he is forced to return to the place of his childhood, Hambley Wood, in his quest for the truth.To find the register that proves his birth, he has to enlist the help of the astonishingly beautiful vicar’s daughter, Arrabella. Unfortunately, they are soon drawn into series of frightening adventures which brings them together and ignites a passion that neither of them can ignore. However, while the mishaps draw them closer, the truth about Harper’s ancestry tears them apart. Can a future ever be theirs, or will a cruel twist of fate, and affairs of the past, prevent them ever having a future together?

    You’re not joking. There’s a store in the center of town called The North Pole. I work there. I’m an elf.I gotta get out of this place!See the world. At least the lower 48. C’mon.But there’s this guy. This gorgeous guy.A Marine. Afghanistan veteran.He just walked into the store one day. He’s tall, dark, handsome. Did I say he’s super hot?OMG! Happy holidays to me.He’s amazing. But I gotta go. Really.He’s so gorgeous, though. Ugh.And now some funky things are going on in the store. It’s like I can see what kids want for Christmas. Whoa. Weird.It’s kind of like Dorothy, the owner, whose Christmas sweaters are horrendous and whose heart is pure gold. Everybody knows she’s totally got that kid whisperer thing going.So this gorgeous guy walks into my life and the Christmas shop starts going all Sixth Sense on me.Is Christmas trying to send me a message? Or Mr. Marine?I better figure things out fast because Christmas is coming and I got my one-way ticket out of Talkeetna.

    But to add further angst to the growing list of gruesome killings is his boss’ decision to re-open the cold case involving the disappearance of a school boy in what has become an annual test of endurance… The Ten Tors Race. Unsure why a twenty year old case has suddenly come to the top of his in tray, his suspicions are aroused further when the murder victims all appear to have been school friends of the missing boy. Adamant that coincidences don’t exist in police work Riley sets about trying to find the link between Sam Haldane’s disappearance and the recent killings, other than the obvious connection of friendship. Added to his troubles, is the presence in the area of a fugitive, who has his own ideas about revenge and justice and an unscrupulous developer, who wants to buy the land surrounding his farm and turn it into a theme park, with scant regard for the history or the people who were thrown off their land prior to D Day. With the disappearance of the schoolboy and the final showdown all set around the infamous Fox Tor Mire, which was allegedly the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Grimpen Mire in the Hound of the Baskervilles, the murderer is finally revealed but not without one final twist of the plot. But in all the blackness and soul searching there is one ray of brightness for Riley, and its one that will bring him a little closer to his brother and shows a different side to the curmudgeonly detective.