Robert Dugoni Presents My Sister's Grave" - a Story of Tragedy, Love...and Closure...

Sarah Lynne Crosswhite
The Kid

"That's all done too."
"Then I'll just write you a check."
"It's all good, Tracy."
"Darren, please, I can't ask that of you."
"You didn't ask it of me." He smiled, but it had a sad quality to it. "I'm not going to take your money, Tracy. You and your family, you've been through enough."
"I don't know what to say. I appreciate this. I really do."
"I know you do. We all lost Sarah that day. Things were never the same around here. It was like she belonged to the whole town. I guess we all did back then."
Tracy had heard others say similar things--that Cedar Grove hadn't died when Christian Mattioli had closed the mine and much of the population had moved away. Cedar Grove had died the day Sarah disappeared. After Sarah, people no longer left their front doors unlocked or let their kids roam freely on foot and bicycle. After Sarah, they did not let their children walk to school or wait for the bus unaccompanied by an adult. After Sarah, people weren't so friendly or welcoming to strangers.
"He's still in jail?"
"Yeah, he's still in jail."
"I hope he rots there."
Tracy considered her watch. Darren stood. "You ready?"
She wasn't, but she nodded anyway. He led her into the adjoining chapel, the rows of chairs empty. The room had been unable to accommodate the crowd for her father's wake. A crucifix hung on the front wall. Below it, on a marble pedestal, was a goldplated container the fize of a jewelry box. Tracy stepped closer and read the engraving on the plate.
"I hope it's okay," Darren said. "That's how we all remember her, the kid following you all over town." Tracy wiped a tear away with a tissue. "I'm glad you're going to be able to put Sarah to rest and put this behind you" Darren continued. "I'm glad for all of us."

~~~

My Sister's Grave

By Robert Dugoni

The suspense and the ending of this phenomenal book is crazy good! Readers will be hooked, as I was, all the way through the book, wondering..."who?" There's lots of clues, of course, but nothing that really sinks in as a hint for us to pursue... I did it anyway--along with Tracy Crosswhite, who, decades later, was just now able to conduct the investigation into her sister's disappearance and assumed death...

Tracy had been devastated when her sister disappeared. They had been very close and routinely competed in various gun shows... They had just finished at the latest one when the two sisters split up that night. Tracy was heading out with her boyfriend, who Sarah knew was going to ask Tracy to marry him that night. Tracy did not like the idea of her driving home alone, but Sarah had insisted. She had never seen Sarah again...

The entire family was infected with guilt since her parents had been away on vacation...and things declined from then on. Now both her parents were gone and Tracy was a homicide detective with the Violent Crime Section in Seattle and had worked to clear many murder cases...but never her sister's. Even though they had arrested somebody, they had never found Sarah's body...

Calloway pointed a finger at her like he'd done when
she was a kid riding her bike on the sidewalk. "You'll
stay out of the way. If I tell you to leave, you will leave.
Do we understand one another?"
Tracy was in no position to tell him she'd investigated
more murders in a year than he'd investigated his
entire career. "We do."
~~~

Until...

Kins, one of her team members, came and told her that a body had been found in the hills above Cedar Grove...

As flashbacks begin...for everyone involved, readers quickly learn of what happened the day Sarah had disappeared.

For now, Tracy was heading to Cedar Grove to see for herself! But Chief Calloway, Sheriff, was not willing to have her involved, especially when she had no jurisdiction...

I'm not here as a police officer," she said. "But I'd appreciate a professional courtesy."

"Can't do it."

"Roy, you know I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the integrity of a crime scene."

Calloway shook his head. "You're not going to get that chance."

The others looked on, uncertainly etched on their faces.

"Then I'm asking you for a favor...as a friend of my father's."

A foot had been found and later a a shallow  grave, surprising not disturbed by animals.

Tracy said, "We searched that area twice and did not find any body. Whoever put the body there had to have done so after we'd searched and just before the flood."

Tracy immediately remembered the intensive search that had occurred...Why wasn't the body found at that time? That night, Tracy had a dream of time with Sarah...

 Tracy turned off the bathroom light and stepped into her bedroom wearing her red fleece pajamas. A towel turban entwined her hair. She sand along to Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton's version of "We've Got Tonight," which played on her boom box as she leaned across the bench seat and considered the night sky out her bay window. A magnificent full moon cast the weeping willow in a pale blue light. Its long braids hung motionless, as if the tree had fallen into a deep sleep. Fall was slipping quietly into winter and the weatherman had predicted the nighttime temperature would dip below freezing. To Tracy's disappointment, however, the sky sparkled with stars. Cedar Grove Grammar School shut down for the first winter snow and Tracy had a test on fractions in the morning. She was less than fully prepared.

She hit the "stoop" button on the boom box, cutting off Sheena but continuing to sing. Then she clicked off her desk lamp. Moonbeams spilled across her down comforter and throw rug, disappearing again when she switched on the lamp...if her grades slipped, her father wouldn't take her to the regional shooting tournament at the end of November.

She continued singing the lyrics to "We've Got Tonight" as she pulled back the comforter.

"Boo!"

Tracy screamed and stumbled backward, nearly falling over.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Sarah had popped out from beneath the covers like she'd been spring-loaded, and now lay on her back laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath to speak the words.

"You are such a brat!" Tracy yelled...

Sarah leaped onto the bed and climbed over her, scurrying under the covers. Settled, she asked, "What was it like?"

Tracy looked down from her book. Sarah lay staring up at the ceiling. "What was what like?"

"Kissing Jack Frates."

"Go to sleep."

"I' don't think I'll ever kiss a boy...."

Sarah bit at a fingernail. "Could we still see each other every day?"

Tracy lifted her arm. Sarah slid closer. "Of course we will. You're my favorite sister, even if you are a brat..."

Tracy...reached overhead for the power switch to her lamp. "Okay, close your eyes."

Sarah did so.

"Now take a deep breath and let it out." When Sarah exhaled, Tracy said, "Ready?"

"Ready."

"I am not..."

"I am not...," Sarah repeated.

"I am not afraid..."

"I am not afraid..."

"I am not afraid of the dark," they said in unison, and Tracy clicked off the night.

~~~

The Coroner, Rosa, pointed out to Tracy that she didn't work for Chief Calloway and had no problem telling Tracy what she had discovered during her autopsy. It was enough for both of them to make some firm conclusions. It was then that Rosa agreed to testify if necessary, and suggested to Tracy that she get Sarah's remains safely into her selected funeral home...

And it was at the funeral, finally, that Tracy was fortunate to meet one of her old friends from Cedar Grove. Dan O'Leary has sat down beside Tracy where she sat alone in the first row in front of the funeral plot. It was there that the former bond between the two was reborn and Dan stood by her as she began her own investigation...

Including going with her, and then, becoming, the lawyer of the man who had been in jail for 20 years, charged with Sarah's murder...

But there was now sufficient evidence that the evidence used to convict him had been "fixed..."

Tracy had been shut out of most of what had been done during the time they originally had investigated Sarah's death. But Tracy had never believed that there wasn't something wrong that was happening. Even if the man who had been convicted had earlier been in jail for rape, that didn't explain why the evidence didn't match what the early record showed.

Tracy was determined to now discover the truth... no matter what or who could be hurt...

Obviously I loved Tracy's character--her love for her sister, her parents, but her love for the truth and justice even more. It seemed the entire town was not willing to go through everything again, even if Sarah's death had itself changed the town itself...

Dugoni hits us right where it hurts--into the guilt we take upon ourselves when something happens to loved ones, no matter whether the guilt is really ours to bear... He takes us into the decisions related to right and wrong, not only to look at and evaluate...but to find and perhaps wallow, and slowly sink into that miry mess that's been created by each decision that was chosen and implemented.

It forces each of us to wonder, "What would we have done?" Dugoni forces us to not just watch life roll by, but get in there and discover what to do about it. In my mind, this is a must-read for many reasons...

Mainly because it's one of the best novels I've ever read...Yep, it has to be added to my 2015 Favorites! Highly recommended!

GABixlerReviews

A writer turned lawyer turned writer. Robert Dugoni was born in Idaho and raised in Northern California the middle child of a family of ten siblings. Dugoni jokes that he didn't get much of a chance to talk, so he wrote. By the seventh grade he knew he wanted to be a writer. 

Dugoni wrote his way to Stanford University, receiving writing awards along the way, and majored in communications/journalism and creative writing while working as a reporter for the Stanford Daily. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and worked briefly as a reporter in the Metro Office and the San Gabriel Valley Office of the Los Angeles Times.

Dugoni attended the UCLA law school and practiced law for 13 years in San Francisco. His longing to return to writing never wavered, however, and in 1999 he awoke one morning and made the decision to quit law and write novels. On the 4-year anniversary of his wedding day, keeping a promise to his wife, he drove a u-haul trailer across the Oregon-Washington border and settled in Seattle to pursue his dreams.

For the next three years, Dugoni worked daily in an 8 foot by 8 foot windowless office in Pioneer Square to complete three novels, winning the 1999 and 2000 Pacific Northwest Writer's Conference Literary Contests.

Dugoni's first novel, The Jury Master, followed and became a New York Times bestseller. Deadly Pleasures mystery magazine chose The Jury Master as one of three "Best of the Best" debut novels of 2006 and the Seattle Times likened Dugoni to a young John Grisham, calling The Jury Master, "A riveting tale of murder, skullduggery and treachery at the highest level."

Dugoni's second novel, Damage Control, reached number 8 on several national independent bookseller's lists. Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal called Damage Control "a page turner" with "a fast moving plot and a few twists that will surprise even seasoned thriller readers."

Wrongful Death, Dugoni's second novel featuring Dugoni's popular protagonist, David Sloan, received critical acclaim. Kirkus called it, "An entertaining thriller about a hotshot lawyer with good guys to like, villains to hiss, and windmills to attack.." And Booklist wrote, "Mixing the suspense of a Grisham legal thriller with the political angle of a Baldacci. Dugoni is knocking on the A-list thriller door."

June 2010, Dugoni released his third in the David Sloane series, Bodily Harm, which Library Journal chose as one of the top five thrillers of 2010. The Providence Rhode Island Journal wrote that Bodily Harm branded Dugoni as "The undisputed king of the Legal Thriller."

Dugoni's fourth in the series, Murder One, was released June 2011 and hailed as a cross between Presumed Innocent and Basic Instinct. Publisher's Weekly called it "the best yet in the series" and Library Journal again chose it as one of the top five thrillers of 2011. The Miami Examiner wrote, "Dugoni should be cloned." It was a finalist for the prestigious Harper Lee Award given by the University of Alabama School of Law and American Bar Association.

The Conviction, the fifth in the David Sloane series will be released June 2012 and again hailed. The Associated Press wrote, "The names John Grisham and Scott Turow are mentioned when discussing the legal thriller genre. Robert Dugoni is as good, if not better." TheProvidence Rhode Island Journal agreed. "The Conviction isn't just the best legal thriller of the year, it's one of the best thrillers period."

Dugoni's first in the Tracy Crosswhite series was released November 1, 2014 by Thomas and Mercer. Crosswhite, Seattle's First Female Homicide detective is on a twenty-year quest to find out who abducted and murdered her younger sister. The answer will shock her, and open horrifying new dangers. Look for the prequel, The Academy.

Night Crossing by Mary E. Martin Shares Suspenseful, Surprising Ending to Excellent Trilogy

Later, on the train, he brought his
drawings of her to her cabin and
made a curious confession. She was
his muse. Although greatly flattered,
she was unsure just what such a
relationship entailed. Was it love or
something more complicated?
~~~

 Putting my umbrella up, I plodded on my way. Actually, I was pleased with the direction of my thoughts--and myself. I am not usually given to philosophic pondering and this, for me, was quite a dissertation.

You can't expect an
artist like Alex to limit
his talent to one source
of inspiration.
But it hurt...
!!!

I began thinking more about Alex and Daphne. When they first met on his trip to Venice, Alex was enchanted. His muse--he called her! After meeting her, he produced that stunningly evocative painting, The River of Remembrance, in which he painted twelve human figures resplendent in his numinous light. Each one of them represented a person he had met on his travels--including Daphne,  who was at the very centre of the composition. On his canvas, Alex was creating the human being as a portal for his divine light. Just think how difficult that might be! Human being? Divine light? Now wonder he had trouble...

Walking freed her mind, which wandered back to her first meeting with Alex on the Orient Express. By chance he had been seated at her breakfast table. His gaze upon her had been so intense that she had resented the intrusion. But his eyes reflected a rare kindness and attentiveness. A peculiar restlessness stirred within and she became attentive...
But now, she was afraid she had been supplanted by another. No longer was she an inspiration to him--or so it seemed. In his studio, Alex showed her beautiful drawings of a willowy, young woman lifeless like a store mannequin wearing a stupid floral hat! His eye was cool, critical and professional in assessing his own work. Never once did he express any emotion about the woman--this new muse. And he seemed oblivious to the pain he was causing her, the rejected muse. At first, she felt jealous fury boiling up inside, but then felt foolish. She tried to reason...
Memories came flooding back. Days later, when they made love in Venice she realized that his art was his true mistress. He had already made love to her with his drawings made in his cabin after dinner. Could such a man ever lie--flesh and blood--beside her as her lover? She had no answer and suspected neither did he. After that, they parted for a time...

~~~

Night Crossing

Third in Trilogy of Remembrance

By Mary E. Martin

After two such intriguing books, The Drawing Lesson and The Fate of Pryde, (Click over for my reviews if you haven't read), I was almost prepared for what happens in the final book.What I didn't expect, however, was that the last book brought the total Trilogy into such an illuminating and, yes, I have to say, inspirational conclusion.

While readers met Rinaldo, a jealous artist and Pryde, a deceiving patron of the arts in the first two novels, the third brings, you might say, the fate of Wainwright into his own special light...

And it all comes about by a fantastic set of characters Alex was fated to meet...

Do you believe in fate--or. what I call God Incidents? Could this story have ever been true in this world? I don't know, but I like to think so.... The key thing is that, for Alex, he had always been looking for, and open to his light. I've had moments of being open to it...but never really chose to constantly be aware--to search for it... Perhaps there is still time for all of us...

"What on earth's wrong?" I asked.
Alex groaned. "Good God! There's a message
from Daphne. She was coming  to my studio to
go out for dinner." Again he slapped his fore-
head, a gesture becoming all too frequent.
"And I completely forgot! What an idiot I am!"
Rapidly he called her number. No answer.
He left his message. "Daphne! Forgive me! I'm
so stupid. I'm at Jamie's looking at a fantastic
painting...no...no that doesn't matter. I should
have remembered. Please call me back and I'll
meet you wherever you are right now..."
He shook his head and spoke sadly, "It's
not the first time, Jamie...She deserves someone
much better than me...I get so wrapped up
in this world of mine that I forget the most
important people..."
~~~

Alex and Daphne had become close but two things happened that caused confusion, for both of them...

Alex had been so excited about heading out on one of his adventures and wanted to include Daphne--taking her to Paris with him... But, as always, Alex had not been able to gets his words right with her... He had talked of their going to Paris, of togetherness, only to then announce it was a business trip. Daphne was crushed for she had been hoping for exactly what Alex had presented at first--a romantic trip and perhaps more...

Daphne withdrew and later left the message she had to return to New York. As an aside, while she was there, her partner began telling her of his feelings--feelings she'd never known he'd had... But, she decided it was maybe time for her to consider what he was offering. 

For Alex, the adventure started, first from just watching the skies...

The jewels in the sky seemed to be forming, taking on a shape...


"Do you ever wonder, Mr. Waitwright, what's in those empty spaces?...You know, in a painting, you think there's nothing but air between a horse in a meadow and the barn but is that really true? Is it really empty?"

His art was renowned for its light. A magical sense of the beyond enthralled his viewers. Sure some marvelous secret of life must lie just on the other side of his fields and streams. With his brushstrokes, he transported viewers into the beyond where they could imagine eternity upon eternity. Quickly, he painted over the farmer who seemed angry at being awakened into existence. Satisfied with his handiwork, Alexander thought, Can the light shine through something new--not physical objects or people?
In his tiny kitchen, he put on a pot of coffee. From the corner of his eye, he caught some movement--a shadow or shifting shape dancing on the wall. As he turned toward the shadows, his mouth grew slack. His breath deepened and a blissful, innocent smile spread across his face. His legs grew weak and he staggered toward his vision as if drawn by irresistible but unknown forces.

As presented by Jung

Against the tall windows, now blackened in the night, a golden egg rose up, shimmering with beautiful gems--diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds which sparkled like the purest sunlight. Turning slowly, this marvelous object throbbed with life as if it contained all the energy in the world. His lips parted and he spoke three words--"the cosmic egg."
It was perhaps three feet in height and, at its widest point, two feet in breadth. It rotated majestically several times and then drifted upward toward the ceiling. Although stunning, it was as insubstantial as a rainbow and began to dissipate before his eyes.
Awe struck, he stood motionless. The cosmic egg was the seed heralding new creation. Everything necessary was at hand and contained within that egg. For eons, it had tantalized humankind with the secret mystery of creation, life and death and the promise of immortality...

!!!

 

Of course, Alex immediately began to sketch the egg that had appeared in his vision... But not too long after, Jamie called about something he'd found in Pryde's files. Alex was astounded and then greatly excited to see that it was a picture of exactly what he'd seen as The Cosmic Egg. If somebody else had seen it, Alex just had to meet him... You know, if I had been Alex in such an exciting situation, I, too, would have forgotten about a dinner date... You can see where my sympathies lie...

Another jolt caused the old
woman to topple directly
onto the seat across from
Alex. He hoped it was not her
place...His first impression
was that she was ever so
slightly unkempt. A hem lung
down and a coat button was
loose. Under her arm, she
clutched a ragged, rolled up
newspaper leading him to
speculate that she was a
reader of the more
sensational tabloids. He
opened his own newspaper and
tried to concentrate.
"Sir?"
~~~

The first  encounter with fate was when he received a confirmation for a ferry trip in his name...which he had not scheduled... At this point, I have to stop and say that the steps which followed had me totally enthralled. I'm still not sure whether somebody was actually behind things, but it was very clear that there was a guiding force...

For the next thing that happened was that he met a woman on the train as he began his planned trip to Paris... Or, I should say, two women and one child. The mother and child he had helped when the child had hidden and was lost in a place where there were bats! The second was an older woman who sat down opposite Alex's seat on the train.

By now readers know that, instead of ignoring the woman, Alex kindly responded to Miss Trump's overtures. What he didn't realize, though, that he would soon be so engrossed in her story, that she soon presented him with strong feelings for her...
The young woman provided entertainment on the ferry and had done a Tarot read for the old woman, while Alex had asked, instead, for a song and listened to her wonderful voice singing Barbara Alan...

A huge, rogue wave roared up like an angry
tongue lashing the ferry broadside. For long
moments, the vessel seemed suspended in a
silent mid-air space, threatening to capsize.
A deathly groaning and an eerie whistling
came and they were flung downward. Water
rushed onto the deck nearly sweeping the
tables and chairs overboard. But then the
ferry heaved upward finally righting itself...
~~~

That was when the four of them all found themselves on the same ferry and in neighboring cabins... At least until the storm! The location was on a low deck. Alex quickly took action to save them, first carrying the young child to the top and handing him over to be placed in the lifeboat.

Going back down under protest, he first tried to save Miss Trump, but the woman refused,
indicating that Alex should save the mother so that her child would not become motherless...

Miss Trump was the only casualty...but her death set up the main story that will thrill and delight readers. One that is both memorable and heartwarming...one surely designed just as it should be by fate...???

I loved this one and added it to my new list of personal favorites for 2015! Do check out this Trilogy of Remembrance. It will surely stir your own memories, your inner life's thoughts, and provide inspiration to see and acknowledge what fate might have in store for you... Highly recommended. Mary E. Martin has presented a brilliant trilogy which could not have been anticipated by blurbs, front covers... Readers must experience it! Kudos For an Incomparable Conclusion!


GABixlerReviews

Enjoy a Taste of the Ending Wonders...

Mary E. Martin is the author of two award-winning trilogies: The Osgood Trilogy and The Trilogy of Remembrance. She grew up in Toronto, Canada, where she lives with her husband. They have three children and two grandchildren.