Hidden Secrets

Author: Janet Sketchley
Genre: Mystery
Series: Green Dory Inn #2

The secrets of Captain Hiltz may not have died with him.

When Landon Smith returns to the Green Dory Inn, she finds innkeeper Anna Young still shaken by the recent vandalism and unable to cope when the inn is targeted in an online vendetta. Prickly neighbour Bobby Hawke can help with Anna’s cyber woes, but when the attacks escalate to physical threats, Landon and Bobby must work together to unmask the culprit.

A cryptic message about a tunnel points to the property’s original owner, a notorious Prohibition-era sea captain rumoured to have left hidden wealth. Contraband, treasure, evidence of things better left buried…

How far will Anna’s enemy go to claim the tunnel and its contents? Protecting Anna will require courage and faith as Landon battles the locals’ attitudes and the scars of her past. Even then, she and Bobby are tracing the faintest of clues. With Anna on the brink of emotional collapse—and danger rising like the tide—time is running out.

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Reviewer: Martha Robinson

It is always a delight to discover a new writer, particularly in Christian fiction, whose writing is absolutely beautiful. Janet Sketchley was that new author for me: Hidden Secrets only whetted my appetite to read more of her work.

I’ve never been to Nova Scotia, but from the first description—“sparkling blue waters, seagulls’ high-pitched cries, and bracing clean air that tasted salty good”—my mind traveled there.

Hidden Secrets is about an inn keeper, Anna Young, who is being harassed and is rumored to be selling the Green Dory Inn. Landon Smith, taking the summer off from the university, thinks of Anna as a second mother, and wants to help Anna find out who is behind the cyberbullying of bad reviews and the cancellation of reservations. Anna and Landon enlist the help of Bobby Hawke, the grandson of Anna’s neighbor Roy Hawke, to think through the clues and discover if the original owner of the house, Captain Hiltz, a rumrunner from Prohibition days, did indeed have a secret tunnel.

Anna is surrounded by good friends, but could one of them be behind the cyberbullying? How do you fight against rumors? Anna’s and Landon’s faith are very strong. Throughout the novel, there are numerous times when each one stops to pray. Bobby, an author of science fiction, does not have faith at the beginning, but through Landon’s influence, he comes to the point where he too can pray.

I do not want to spoil the plot, but I will say this was a cozy mystery at its best. It was a delight to untangle, without a huge pile-up of dead bodies.

I highly recommend Hidden Secrets for your reading pleasure. I plan to seek out more books by Janet Sketchley.

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