The Bone House, by Brian Freeman, A. Narrated by Joe Barrett, Produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

This book, a stand-alone, is in my opinion, Freeman’s best to date. Mark and Hilary Bradley moved from Chicago to Door County, Wisconsin, to realize their dreams of living in one of the last pristine places in the United States. Hilary coaches dance competitions and Mark teaches highschool English. They are both extremely popular teachers until a highschool girl, obsessed by Mark, writes an imaginary scenario in her diary of a torrid love affair between them. Her mother finds the diary, will not believe her daughter made it up, and the couple becomes persona non grata overnight. Mark loses his job, and people make it clear they want him to leave the area. Then the dance teams go to Florida for a competition. Teresa, the girl with the obsession, is on the Door County dance team and Hilary is her coach. Mark goes with Hilary to Florida, and Teresa’s sister, Glory, and Glory’s boy friend, accompany Teresa. Mark goes for a walk on the beach, runs into Glory who tries to seduce him, and Mark leaves, after trying to convince Glory to go bac into the hotel. The next day Glory’s murdered body is found on the beach, and Mark is the main suspect. Hilary believes he didn’t commit the crime or sleep with Teresa. A quirky detective, Cab Bolton from Florida,is willing to accept that Mark might not be the killer, which makes him an ally of sorts of Hilary’s. The couple find escalating violence toward them when they return home. Someone is willing to kill to make sure secrets stay hidden-such as secrets about a fire that occurred six years ago where Glory was almost killed. The conclusion is a surprise. The scenery, plus the obligatory storms, are as usual very well described. Highly recommend it.