Let Me Die In His Footsteps by Lori Roy

 

One rule that everyone knows:  Hollerans don't go near Baines.  That goes back to the disaster that happened in the 1930's.  Back then seven Baines sons lived on the farm with their mother.  That is until the eldest son, Joseph Carl, was accused and convicted of raping Juna Crowley and kidnapping her brother who died after that event.  He was the last public hanging in Kentucky and the other Baines sons drifted away leaving only the mother to grow old on the Baines farm.

Now Annie Holleran, daughter of Juna although she's not supposed to know it, has discovered the body of Mrs. Baines in her garden patch.  What was she doing outside at midnight?  Did old age take her or something more sinister.  Along with the death, Annie and everyone else believes that Juna, who left right after Annie's birth, is coming back now.  Will she?  The sons are back for the funeral and there's plenty of chances for the whole enmity to break out again.  In order to save her family, Annie must go back and reveal all the secrets both sides have been hiding all these years but there is danger in revealing secrets.

Lori Roy is a Midwestern author who now lives in the South and gets the feeling of its people exactly right.  This book is set in a rural area with families who have lived there for generations and lots of secrets which have built up in order for those families to live in close proximity with their neighbors.  The tension in the book builds slowly but steadily and the secrets are revealed one by one.  This book won an Edgar Award for Best Book and it is definitely deserving.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.