The Secret of the Pines

When Silas Blackburn is found dead in a locked bedroom, his estranged granddaughter is suspected of murder by the private detective hired by Blackburn on the day of his death. After all, the old man had a healthy heart and he intended to disinherit Lauren the next morning. Complicating matters, the authorities believe Blackburn died a natural death, but when extraordinary events reveal foul play, no one can determine how the crime was committed.

Lauren Blackburn can’t remember what happened that night. She started the night partying in Boston and ended up seventy-five miles away in a deserted cottage near The Pines. Her sister Kate, who lives with and cared for their grandfather, found his body in the early morning after being awakened by strange noises in the old house. Everything seems to point to Lauren, except when it doesn’t. Lauren is grateful that Kate and her friend, Hart Spencer, are doing everything possible to help her, especially since their relationships have been strained by a terrible argument, but is Kate hiding something? Lauren hates to think it, but Kate and Hart seem a little too eager to sabotage the search for the truth. At least that’s how it appears. Then Carlos Paredes, a friend from Lauren’s dissipated city life and the last person to see Lauren in Boston, shows up at the dilapidated estate uninvited and unwelcome, claiming he is only there to help Lauren. But is that why he is really came to the Pines? Is he part of a plot to frame Lauren for a murder she may or may not have she committed? And if she didn’t kill her grandfather, who did? How did the murderer get into the locked bedroom? When a second death occurs and key evidence goes missing, it’s clear that otherworldly forces are at work in the old house, because there is no other explanation for what is happening.