Ellie Hastings receives a series of threatening notes, presented as riddles. She must solve the riddles by the deadline or something unknown and terrible will happen. An unidentified woman is murdered, a child is missing, a strange family moves into the tiny mountain village and gunshots intimidate the residents. Ellie joins with Police Chief Dave Shaffer to investigate the most puzzling mysteries she has faced. Who is the riddler and why has he targeted Ellie? Accompanied by her beloved mutt Buddy, Ellie attempts to follow the clues, solve the riddles and protect her little mountain village from the unknown.
JOANNE CLAREY grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Colby College, Waterville, Maine with an B.A.in English Literature. She taught English in New Hampshire, New York, and Maine public schools, worked as a counselor at a maximum security forensic institution, and operated her own antique business before earning her M.Ed. and Ed.D., in Counseling and Supervision at the University of Maine. She taught Counseling and Women's Studies at the University of Southern Maine and worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice and as a consultant for over two decades.
Research articles on women's development, newsletter columns, two career training manuals for women, music lyrics and numerous other non-fiction writings preceded Clarey's fiction writing. She is the author of six fiction novels, numerous articles, short stories and poems. The Dr. Christie McMorrow thriller series, TWISTED TRUTH and SKINNED, takes place in Portland, Maine and the Hummingbird Falls mystery series, THE MYSTERIES OF HUMMINGBIRD FALLS, RIDDLED TO DEATH,THE FALL HUNT, and COLD CALL takes place in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Clarey lives in New England. Her life is enriched by her partner, two children, her grandson, four siblings, wonderful friends, challenging and supportive authors, and her writers' roundtable. In addition to writing, Clarey gives talks about writing, sits on panels at conferences, collects rocks, pans for gold, reads, creates in mixed media and loves to swim in icy mountain streams and lakes.
