"Shadows Fall is a thriller taut with chills that will make you check if the door is locked. No two ways about it the tension is so thick in this book, it is a chore to put it down. Beth is a character that makes you empathize with her fear and pain. As Beth is having trouble breathing, I can feel the palpation of her heart. Barbara Klaser's writing pulls you into the story with no intention of letting go and she succeeds at that task ... the type of book you can read over and over again."--Robyn Glazer
"Barbara's characterizations are very astute and show a powerful understanding of human nature. Beth experiences the anger and hatred of the community as well as members of her family based on their beliefs about her past. And she experiences plenty of romance as well."--Nancy Marple
"The characters in Shadows Fall are as memorable as the premise is grim. Few things in life are as disturbing or as cruel as that simple old standby in the movies, a frame. Innocent people are convicted of crimes often and tragically in reality. Mystery novels dwell in a region of justice where that terrible wrong can be righted with wits and courage. Few authors show the devastating effects that an accusation, let alone imprisonment, can have on the family and the people around the victim. That's what sets this gut-wrenching thriller above the pack."--Robert A. Sloan, author of Raven Dance
"Rest assured that there are a plethora of clues (and some red herrings) that will keep you turning pages. In many ways, this book reminded me of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. There are only a limited number of people who could have killed Ollie. In self-protection, the killer will strike again. Beth, Abby, and everyone she knows is in danger or dangerous ... if you start reading at dawn, suddenly it will be time to turn on some lights. The excuse will be that it is getting too dark to read. Too dark to be in the house with a killer--the characters are so real that you know they are there with you."--Victoria R. Tarrani
"As the wife of a mystery author I get to read a lot of "his" books. This one, however, is my kind of mystery. The characters are painted in exacting detail, the scenery is grand, and the story is as complex as it is satisfying. Since I am a California girl, the only thing this author could have added is a map to Wilder Mountain Lodge. Halfway through the first chapter I wanted to go there ... still do."--Juanita M. Armstrong
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
Tom Stevens' property, on the east-facing slope of Wilder Mountain, shared a boundary with the twenty-thousand or so acres of northern Sierra forest the Grays owned, which included Wilder Mountain Lodge and Shadow Lake on the west slope. The barest hint of a breeze stirred Tom's trees on this hot summer night, just enough to fool one into thinking it was cooler outdoors.
Sheriff Les Kendall waited on Tom Stevens' pea-gravel driveway for his deputies. Duane Prescott arrived last, well after the other two. He walked up to the three of them in the moonlight and stood with his hands on his hips. He was nineteen, with a stocky build and a square-shaped face, an immature mustache and a thick head of straight brown hair. His blue eyes seldom opened wide enough to let you get a grip on their true color. His uniform appeared shrugged on. "Why'd you call me, Sheriff?"
"Because we need a young mind, and you're the youngest." The other two snickered, and Les glanced at them. They shut up. "Where do the twins go on their midnight jaunts their father thinks they never take? Do you know?"
Duane didn't even have to think about it. "They swim in a pool in Carter's Creek, about halfway to the Lodge. It's on Gray property, so they don't tell their dad."
"Tom says Beth Gray threatened Ollie."
Duane cracked a grin. "Not likely."
"Tom thinks she's unstable, and there have been rumors."
"Gossip, Sheriff. She's had a tough time since her dad died. Her fiancé's out of the country, and she goes off to college herself next month. She's spending a quiet summer working at the Lodge."
"Ollie still up to his pranks?"
The front door of the house opened. Duane looked that way and nodded. "He locked her in the bathroom of a cabin she was cleaning two weeks ago. She was stuck for hours. She can't stand that, Sheriff. She avoids Ollie."
"Check the boys' room while I talk to Tom, then we'll head to the swimming pool. If we find those two having a moonlight dip, maybe I'll join them. Damn, it's hot!"
The other deputies checked outside the windows and doors for signs of a forced entry. Minutes later, when Duane emerged from the house, Les motioned him aside. "Find anything?"
"No sign of a break-in." Duane frowned at the house. "One boy's bed looks slept in, the other doesn't."
"Anything else?"
Duane shook his head, but he looked unsettled. Les watched him a few more seconds, wondering what was up. Then he decided the kid was just sleepy. Either that or Tom Stevens wasn't the housekeeper Duane's mother was.
Les turned and motioned to the others. "Okay, let's go. Maybe the uniforms will scare them out of worrying their dad this way again."
The moon was full, which made walking easy until they reached the woods. They used flashlights to follow a deer track through dense trees and undergrowth along the bank of the creek. Halfway to the clearing and the swimming pool, the oak woods opened out and the trail lay exposed, dappled by moonlight.
A gunshot cracked the still of the night, echoing off nearby hills.
The men continued at a faster pace, caution in their eyes, hands on their sidearms.
Another shot shook the air. A minute later the beams of their flashlights caught a swift movement through the trees in their direction. One of the Stevens twins came toward them at a run. "He's been shot!" The whites of his eyes shone in the moonlight.
"Who's been shot?" Les grasped the breathless boy's shoulder. "Where?"
)
When Beth Gray was seventeen, a fourteen-year-old boy was shot in the woods near her home, and Beth was convicted of his murder. Fifteen years later she has returned with her daughter Abby to her childhood home in the Sierras, to claim her birthright and declare her innocence. Vague, shadowy memories haunt Beth while she struggles to reveal the secrets of a past her family and home town refuse to face. Her blossoming relationship with Dr. Peter Lloyd intensifies Beth's desire to reclaim her home. But just when her new love and the hope of clearing her name bring her the promise of happiness, the design career she's built over the past several years is threatened by blackmail, in an attempt to split her and Peter apart. Physical threats to both Beth and Abby force Beth to protect her child by sending her away, while Beth stands her ground, determined to get at the truth. Another murder is committed, and the evidence points to Beth. The threat of death or a return to prison drives Beth to cling to Peter's love as she faces personal ruin, and an unseen enemy hidden in the shadow terrors of her childhood nightmares.
