Run From the River — Lois Barth

Lou Hilliard could not ignore Hilda Stanton's frantic appeal for her to come to Vermont. “Something is wrong at Cliff House,” Hilda had written, and Hilda being afraid of anything was more than Lou could comprehend. Lou and her brother, Brad -- now an airlines pilot -- had been raised at Cliff House with the golden-haired Hilda.

Cliff House, the luxurious old house that nestled into the rugged foothills surrounding the small Vermont town of Twin Falls, was a strange household, of my relationships:

Rona Averill was its present mistress; Hilda, Rona's adopted daughter, was married to Gerald Stanton, manager of the mill that had brought wealth to the Averill's; Stan Averill, Rona's cousin and foreman of the mill, now married to Jocelyn Breen, was the reason Lou had left Cliff House; Brad Hilliard, when off duty made his home at Cliff House.

Brad and Lou had been taken into the Averill household when their parents died, their father having been a close friend of John Averill, Rona's father. Once, Claire Martin, secretary at the mill, had made her home at Cliff House, but now Claire lived in a summer cottage in the woods. Claire and Brad were engaged.

There were hidden currents at work in Cliff House -- everyone seemed to be suspicious of everyone else. And when Claire Martin asked Lou to meet her in the old boathouse after dinner, Lou agreed. Claire was not there, but someone knocked Lou unconscious. It wasn't until later that Claire's body was found by the river, the unicorn statuette that had killed her half-submerged in the mud.

Lou could trust no one -- not even Hilda, who had been her bulwark of strength as a child. Gerald was irritable and moody, and Stan, the man she had loved, was trying to convince her that he didn't love Jocelyn, that it had all been a mistake. Could she believe him? Only Rona Averill, stiff-backed, uncompromising, seemed to hold herself above all the crosscurrents that were changing Cliff House into a place of horror for Lou.

The tide was moving on. There would be another murder, further destruction, more violent conflicts of personalities before peace could return to Cliff House.