Cut and Dry — Jo Dereske

LADY ON THE LAKE

In Michigan's northwest country, the rivers run amber, the lakes are blue and deep, and the people guard their land, their secrets, and their fears. Forgery expert Ruby Crane has returned to the land where she grew up and from which she fled, living in her family's lakeside cabin and watching her daughter slowly recover from a near-fatal car accident. And Ruby is watching the man who watches her from across the lake with a pair of binoculars-until a murder brings them together.

The victim was the proprietress of the Wak 'n Yak beauty parlor, a woman who had never harmed a soul. But when Ruby helps investigate the crime, she finds dark secrets emanating from the clean, well-lighted shop. And when she strikes up an acquaintance with the mysterious stranger from across Blue Lake, she finds an ex-cop willing to help her through the case. Now, with passions running high and a heat wave wilting the poplars of a once-peaceful Michigan town, the prodigal daughter and the solitary man are both running out of time-while a desperate killer prepares to strike again....