The eighth annual Depot Days celebration is drawing large crowds to the quaint old station. The buzz of an auction and the thrill of the win. Eager spectators crane their necks as the last antique trunk gives up its secret...Trouble!
Death has knocked at Grace Marsden's door before, but the stakes skyrocket when circumstances cast her husband as the number one suspect in a hit and run. Once again fate sets Grace on a collision course with a determined murderer.
Suspicion raises ugly memories and peoples defenses when they realize their close-knit town harbors a killer. Who knows the secret? And who punched a one-way ticket to the end of the line for Grace?
Read an Excerpt:
“It’s behind that wall.”
My brother’s whisper brought Joan and me to his side. We’d climbed up to the lantern room in the old lighthouse over an hour ago, ostensibly to take notes and measurements.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“There can’t be anything behind these walls, Marty—they’re made of three-foot-thick stone. Behind is out there.” Joan motioned toward the windows.
“There it is again. Hear it?”
I heard a faint scratching.
Joan shook her head. “I didn’t hear it. If it’s anything, it has to be coming from downstairs. Sound displaces in lighthouses…something about the cylindrical shape.”
Marty started down the stairs. Joan shook her head and smiled. “It’s probably an island rat,” she whispered.
“Yuck. The brochure said nothing about rates, island or otherwise.” I referred to my childhood friend’s letter inviting me to Christian Island for a visit. “And while we’re on that page, couldn’t you and Dave have waited to sell the end of the season? Who visits the island in January?”
“People live her year round. It’s only us ‘cottagers’ who can’t cope in the dark months. Besides, you get a better price when people are freezing and longing to have their own cottage by May. It’s all about marketing, Gracie.”
I smiled and grumbled at my oldest friend. We’d been through elementary and high school together.
“Hey. Down here. I found something.” We hurried to the main gallery. Marty crouched on the floor next to the only furniture in the room, a small built-in bookcase. The Christian Island lighthouse had been vacant since 1922, and the iron from the lantern room had been cut up for scrap during World War II. Joan’s group hoped to replace the Dioptric lantern by 1999 as part of the restoration.
“If this is supposed to become an historical marker and museum, where is the furniture—in storage? The bareness does show off the old timber and beam architectural style.”
“Whatever furnishing had been here were ‘liberated’ by islanders or cottagers years before. I have it on good authority that if you take tea with some of the families on the island, you’ll be sipping from and probably sitting on items from here.”
“Maybe the keeper took away his things when the lighthouse shut down.”
“No. It’s a safe bet that the last lighthouse keeper didn’t take anything, besides his own life.”
Reviews of The Station Master: A Scheduled Death
"It has come a time for Janet Evanovich to take a lesser seat and move over for Luisa Buehler, whose characterization, setting, plot and twists in The Station Master are simply enthralling. If you like your suspense cozy to be medium boiled, Buehler has cooked up an excellent dish for her fans. I highly recommend The Station Master and this series for its unique sleuth, strong voice, and crisp storytelling."
--Robert W. Walker
Author, City for Ransom and PSI: Blue