About this item
FOR FANS OF Jessica Fletcher Donald Bain, Sheila Connolly, and Maggie BarbieriThree May Keep a Secret is a fast-paced mystery. Grace Kimball, recently retired teacher in the small town of Endurance, is haunted by a dark, past event, an experience so terrifying she has never been able to put it behind her. When a shoddy journalist, Brenda Norris, is murdered in a suspicious fire, Grace is hired by Jeff Maitlin to fill in for Brenda, researching the towns history. Unfortunately, that past has dark secrets.When yet a second murder occurs, Graces friend, T.J. Sweeney, a homicide detective, races against time to find a killer. Even Graces life will be threatened by her worst nightmare.Against a backdrop of deaths and a 175th town celebration, Grace and Jeff find an undeniable attraction for each other.
About the Author
Susan Van Kirk was born in Galesburg, Illinois, and educated at Knox College (BA) and University of Illinois (M.Ed) . During her career in education, she first taught thirty-four years at Monmouth High School (1968-2002) . She continued her work at Monmouth College where she taught educational studies and communications for another ten years.
Her first book was a creative nonfiction memoir with fifteen stories about her teaching life called "The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks) ." Several universities use it as a text for their pre-service teachers.
"Three May Keep a Secret" is her first mystery featuring retired teacher, Grace Kimball, who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation in her small town of Endurance, Illinois. She's also falling for her new boss and editor, Jeff Maitlin, but he has a mysterious past and the dead bodies start piling up once he comes to town. While researching the history of the town for its 175th centennial, Grace puts herself right in the path of a murderer.
"The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney" is a novella available as a Kindle ebook. It features the Endurance detective on the track of a cold case murder that takes her back to the decade of the Big Band Era and World War II.
The second mystery in the Endurance series titled "Marry in Haste" finds Grace Kimball in the middle of two murders and mysteries. She jumps into the investigation of a former student, Emily Folger, accused of murdering her banker husband. Grace finds a diary from the 1890s, hidden in a house Jeff Maitlin buys to renovate. The diary tells the bittersweet story of Olivia Havelock, who came to Endurance looking for a husband and got far more than she bargained for. Grace begins to realize both of these marriages share a dark secret.
"Death Takes No Bribes," the third and last Endurance mystery, will be published in early June, 2017.
You can visit her website at www.susanvankirk.com or her author page on Facebook at Susan VanKirk Author. Or follow her on Twitter @susan_vankirk or on Pinterest at The Endurance Mysteries.
