“I need to know what happened fifteen years ago, Cormac. I need to understand. Because I think what’s going on now is connected to what took place then. T-to you.”
His expression was bleak. “Let it go. The past is over and done with.”
“Apparently not. It looms over us. Over the whole damn town.”
“Leave it alone, Eloise.”
I bristled. “I can’t. I won’t.”

Cormac O’Malley has returned to his home town of Dogwood, Ohio after serving 15 years in prison for murder. The town is boiling with  anger that a murderer is amongst them and when local librarian, Eloise Carmichael gives him a job as a handyman, the town turns against her as well.

It soon becomes apparent that there are dangerous men in the town who are plotting against Cormac, men who have secrets they will kill to protect. Eloise risks everything in her search for the truth about a crime committed fifteen years earlier.

A Thin, Dark Line is a very well written romantic suspense. In some ways it reminds me a little of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Alfred Hitchcock rarely showed violence in his movies. He hinted at it and left the rest to the imagination of his audience. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut. It’s really that good.

“Now, tell me why you’ve decided you’re boring.”
I Worried a cuticle ad said, “Jane, when I burn a piece of toast, do you know what I do?”
“Um…Throw it away?”
“No! I scrape off the burnt parts and carry on.”

Many Thanks to Netgalley and The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House for providing me with this ARC.