Let Me Die In His Footsteps

Let Me Die In His Footsteps
Lori Roy
Read by publisher request
in exchange for fair review













Amazon Blurb -

On a dark Kentucky night in 1952 exactly halfway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays, Annie Holleran crosses into forbidden territory. Everyone knows Hollerans don’t go near Baines, not since Joseph Carl was buried two decades before, but, armed with a silver-handled flashlight, Annie runs through her family’s lavender fields toward the well on the Baines’ place. At the stroke of midnight, she gazes into the water in search of her future. Not finding what she had hoped for, she turns from the well and when the body she sees there in the moonlight is discovered come morning, Annie will have much to explain and a past to account for.

It was 1936, and there were seven Baine boys. That year, Annie’s aunt, Juna Crowley, with her black eyes and her long blond hair, came of age. Before Juna, Joseph Carl had been the best of all the Baine brothers. But then he looked into Juna’s eyes and they made him do things that cost innocent people their lives. Sheriff Irlene Fulkerson saw justice served—or did she? 

As the lavender harvest approaches and she comes of age as Aunt Juna did in her own time, Annie’s dread mounts. Juna will come home now, to finish what she started. If Annie is to save herself, her family, and this small Kentucky town, she must prepare for Juna’s return, and the revelation of what really happened all those years ago.
*****

This was a good read.  I enjoyed the turns it took, a nice surprise in it, good characters throughout. It took you back and forth to past and present, but it doesn't get choppy or stilted.  A nice mystery to keep you wondering.

Annie Holleran has the "know-how" a tingling feeling of what's going to come. Just like her Aunt Juna who's gone away leaving a mess behind. She also has her Aunt Juna's black as coal eyes. It makes people scared of her, won't look at her head on. She's 15 1/2 now and it's her ascension, that time all girls look forward to, approaching womanhood and looking down the Fulkerson's well to see the face of their husband to be. All but Annie, she's feeling dread, the know-how is swelling in her, filling her with unease.

Sneaking out at midnight to the neighbors well, all alone so no one knows what she's doing she runs through her families lavender field to the Baine's  property. Her family doesn't get along with the Baines, the bad blood goes back to her mama and aunt's teen years. She's worried about being on their property but pushes past it and gets to the well. What she see's that dark night sets in motion things she never expected.

Annie is a sweet character. Lori Roy has crafted a great Southern mystery. You can smell the lavender floating in the air! There is one part that actually had me gasp out loud. Love when a book just catches me off guard. I definitely recommend this read.

4 cannolis