The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

 

Wylie Lark is a true crime writer.  She has come to Iowa to write about a famous case.  One night, someone came to a family farm there and killed both the parents.  At first the suspicion fell on the teenage son but he was found dead and hidden on the property.  The only survivor was a young teenage girl who had run and hidden all night in the towering cornfields.

Now Wylie wishes she had finished her book about the case earlier.  There's a blizzard coming down and the house she is renting could easily lose power and heat.   When she goes outside to get more firewood in, she sees something lying in the yard.  When she checks, she is shocked to see a young child around ten.  Where did he come from?  Getting the child into the house, she does her best to warm him up and then goes back out to see if she can discover where he came from.  She finds a wrecked car and a woman.  Once she gets her inside as well, she can see that the mother is injured from the wreck.  Neither of them want to talk but eventually Wylie manages to find out that they are being chased by a man.

Then there's a knock on the door.  Is it the man who the two are fleeing from?  Is it the snowplow driver who said he would come by and check on Wylie?  Someone else from the wreck?

This is my first book by Heather Gudenkauf but it won't be my last.  She has a real ability to racket up the tension and I had to put the book down at times and walk around a bit before going on with it.  Wylie is resourceful but can any woman manage to defeat both a raging man and weather that isolates her and makes everything much more difficult?  This book is recommended for mystery readers.