Dorothy Garlock, On Tall Pine Lake

On Tall Pine Lake

Dorothy Garlock

Warner, January 2007, $12.99, 372 pp.

ISBN 0446695327

Home, Arkansas is the new home of Nona Conrad, her teenage sister Maggie and their adopted Aunt Mabel. She moved from Little Rock because she needs a job, and the owner of the fishing camp hired her to look after things and take care of the finances. Her half brother Harold, who she knows is a thief and a liar, sent her a package begging her not to open it, but she is so busy with the new job and her next door neighbor Simon Wright that she forgets all about it.

Simon drives her crazy with his over protectiveness, but she begins to understand why when he explains that Harold stole a lot of money and jewels from one of the vaults in the bank that belongs to his grandfather. Two men from the mob are in the area looking for the treasure and the jewels, and they kidnap Maggie hoping she knows something that will lead them to Harold. A Good Samaritan frees Maggie, takes her to his parents home, where they spend the night before returning home. The danger is far from over, because the men want the money and they will do whatever is necessary to get it. Between kidnapping, chases, and injuries, Nona and Simon find time to fall in love.

This is Dorothy Garlock's fiftieth book, and it is one of her best to date. Taking place in a tiny backwater rural town, readers soak up the atmosphere of small town living. The way the protagonists bicker, the audience knows they're starting to fall in love; surprisingly, the person who is one of the stars is Maggie, a young girl who keeps her head during dangerous situations. It would be great to have Maggie's story when she grows up.