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Truth #2
Hard Truth
From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a novel of sexy romantic suspense for fans of Nora Roberts, Catherine Coulter, and Karen Robards.
TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL
Two children who mysteriously disappeared twenty-one years ago are the last thing on Lorna Temple’s mind when she returns to her Pennsylvania hometown to sell the old family property in the wake of her parents’ passing. But instead of memories, the fields where Lorna grew up yield something utterly chilling.
All those years ago, when nine-year-old Melinda Eagan vanished on her birthday, her foulmouthed older brother, Jason, quickly became the lone suspect. Yet when he went missing, too, the case turned cold. But Jason, it seems, never got far: His bones have been moldering on the Temples’ land for two decades. As far as the local police are concerned, the book is closed on Melinda’s murder–and Jason’s death is justice served. But Lorna refuses to let the dead rest uneasily. She turns to private eye T. J. Dawson to dig up the dirt of the past and see what lies beneath. Only there’ s someone out there who hasn’t forgotten–and who won’t be the least bit forgiving about being exposed as a killer.
In matters of crime, there are many versions of the truth.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Mariah Stewart's Dark Truth.
TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL
Two children who mysteriously disappeared twenty-one years ago are the last thing on Lorna Temple’s mind when she returns to her Pennsylvania hometown to sell the old family property in the wake of her parents’ passing. But instead of memories, the fields where Lorna grew up yield something utterly chilling.
All those years ago, when nine-year-old Melinda Eagan vanished on her birthday, her foulmouthed older brother, Jason, quickly became the lone suspect. Yet when he went missing, too, the case turned cold. But Jason, it seems, never got far: His bones have been moldering on the Temples’ land for two decades. As far as the local police are concerned, the book is closed on Melinda’s murder–and Jason’s death is justice served. But Lorna refuses to let the dead rest uneasily. She turns to private eye T. J. Dawson to dig up the dirt of the past and see what lies beneath. Only there’ s someone out there who hasn’t forgotten–and who won’t be the least bit forgiving about being exposed as a killer.
In matters of crime, there are many versions of the truth.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Mariah Stewart's Dark Truth.
377 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 27, 2005
190 people are currently reading
644 people want to read
About the author
Mariah Stewart
88 books1,528 followersMariah Stewart is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of forty-one novels and three novellas and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal. She is a RITA finalist in romantic suspense and the recipient of the Award of Excellence for contemporary romance, a RIO Award for excellence in women's fiction, and a Reviewers Choice Award from Romantic Times Magazine. A three-time winner of the Golden Leaf Award presented by the New Jersey Romance Writers, Stewart was recently awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award (which placed her in their Hall of Fame along with former recipients Nora Roberts and Mary Jo Putney — very excellent company, indeed!)
After having written seven contemporary romance novels, Stewart found true happiness writing murder and mayhem. She considers herself one lucky son of a gun to have landed the best job in the world: getting paid for making up stories. At home. In sweats and J. Crew flip flops. Could life be sweeter?
After having written seven contemporary romance novels, Stewart found true happiness writing murder and mayhem. She considers herself one lucky son of a gun to have landed the best job in the world: getting paid for making up stories. At home. In sweats and J. Crew flip flops. Could life be sweeter?
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
March 15, 2023
My umpteenth trial of an audiobook bearing fruit…Mariah Stewart’s Hard Truth narrated by Anna Fields did work for me and I am breathing a sigh of relief. Thank God, this genre somehow is working to retain my interest in sticking to an audiobook instead of going in search of the printed version coz of the lack of patience to know how it is all going to unfold. Well, having said that I am sure I am gonna revert to myself and ditch audiobooks after 2 days of trying and then search for the ebook and finish the story in a day. Me, *sigh*…
Hard Truth is book #2 in the Truth series and I'm sure that it can safely be read as a stand-alone and other than characters being repeated, the story is focussed on a new couple in each book. Lorna has returned to her family home after losing her mother to cancer and is planning to sell the property and return to her life. Her arrival though coincides with the discovery of bones in her backyard and soon the case of her missing best friend Melinda Eagan pummel back to the forefront. Believed to have been harmed by her brother and his vanishing act soon after asserting the fact, the missing case has been lying dormant all these years. But the discovery of the bones is just the beginning as Lorna unearths the chilling and horrifying reality hidden in her grounds.
I haven’t read any other book by the author so had no particular expectations going in. The mystery of the bones being discovered and the romance that blossoms between investigator TJ and Lorna was wonderfully done. I loved Lorna’s relationship with her siblings, battling her sister's sentimental attitude towards the house though refusing to take responsibility for it, her brother’s vehement denial to return there for whatever reasons, being expected to handle everything on her own, the author lovingly embodies the sibling frustrations and makes it pretty convincing. The murderer when revealed didn’t surprise me much as I had a fair inkling as to where it was being led to but the author manages to keep the reader hooked to the reveal of it all brilliantly.
The narration was top-notch, the voice matching my imagination of Lorna’s in my head and thereby making it perfectly compelling.
An easily read story in the romantic suspense genre!
This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.
Hard Truth is book #2 in the Truth series and I'm sure that it can safely be read as a stand-alone and other than characters being repeated, the story is focussed on a new couple in each book. Lorna has returned to her family home after losing her mother to cancer and is planning to sell the property and return to her life. Her arrival though coincides with the discovery of bones in her backyard and soon the case of her missing best friend Melinda Eagan pummel back to the forefront. Believed to have been harmed by her brother and his vanishing act soon after asserting the fact, the missing case has been lying dormant all these years. But the discovery of the bones is just the beginning as Lorna unearths the chilling and horrifying reality hidden in her grounds.
I haven’t read any other book by the author so had no particular expectations going in. The mystery of the bones being discovered and the romance that blossoms between investigator TJ and Lorna was wonderfully done. I loved Lorna’s relationship with her siblings, battling her sister's sentimental attitude towards the house though refusing to take responsibility for it, her brother’s vehement denial to return there for whatever reasons, being expected to handle everything on her own, the author lovingly embodies the sibling frustrations and makes it pretty convincing. The murderer when revealed didn’t surprise me much as I had a fair inkling as to where it was being led to but the author manages to keep the reader hooked to the reveal of it all brilliantly.
The narration was top-notch, the voice matching my imagination of Lorna’s in my head and thereby making it perfectly compelling.
An easily read story in the romantic suspense genre!
This review is published in my blog Rain'n'Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.
June 10, 2013
This is the second book in the "Truth" series. I had previously read Mariah Stewarts "Dead" series and I'm discovering that even though all the books can be read as stand alone novels, she continues to put in little snippets from earlier books and bringing back former characters. I enjoy that aspect of her books.
As a child, Lorna Stiles' best friend, Melinda Eagan goes missing the night of her ninth birthday. There are no clues, no witnesses, she just vanished without a trace. Most of the people in the small farming town of Callen Pennsylvania, believed her abusive mother or her older brother had something to do with her disappearance.
Now an adult, Lorna has returned to her childhood home to get it ready to sell after the recent death of her mother. She is expecting to deal with her feelings and that of her siblings about selling the family farm. What she is not expecting, is the body of Jason Eagon being found on what used to be part of the family farm. It was dug up during the new construction taking place on the backside of the property. His body appears to have been buried there since he went missing a few days after his young sister disappeared. His mother is brought in and the local police have the case sewn up and closed before the ink dries on the arrest warrant. In their minds, they have their killer, period.
Lorna wants to do right by her mother's memory, so she steps in to help Mrs. Eagan. Posting her bail and hiring a Private Investigator to look into what happened all those years ago when the children went missing.
Thomas Jefferson Dawson, T.J., is a former profiler with the FBI, and has been recommended to Lorna by her friend and true crime author Regan Landry.
When three more bodies, all young teenage boys, turn up buried near the body of Jason, all with the same cause of death, Regan's friend and FBI agent Mitch Peyton, pushes to be invited into the case. It seems now they have a serial killer on their hands and he has disposed of his victims in the back fields of Lorna's family home.
Between Lorna, Regan, T.J., and Mitch, new clues are discovered, and they now know in which direction to hunt their killer.
This book was a bit different than the earlier books by this author that I've read. This one was much slower paced. A true mystery needing to be solved. There are no awesome car chases, and our main character is not in constant fear for her life. That being said, it was still very well written. Lots of twists and turns leading you in several directions before the killer is finally discovered. I found every time I had to put the book down, I couldn't wait to pick it up again to see what was coming next.
I really liked the book, and will buy the next one in the series.
As a child, Lorna Stiles' best friend, Melinda Eagan goes missing the night of her ninth birthday. There are no clues, no witnesses, she just vanished without a trace. Most of the people in the small farming town of Callen Pennsylvania, believed her abusive mother or her older brother had something to do with her disappearance.
Now an adult, Lorna has returned to her childhood home to get it ready to sell after the recent death of her mother. She is expecting to deal with her feelings and that of her siblings about selling the family farm. What she is not expecting, is the body of Jason Eagon being found on what used to be part of the family farm. It was dug up during the new construction taking place on the backside of the property. His body appears to have been buried there since he went missing a few days after his young sister disappeared. His mother is brought in and the local police have the case sewn up and closed before the ink dries on the arrest warrant. In their minds, they have their killer, period.
Lorna wants to do right by her mother's memory, so she steps in to help Mrs. Eagan. Posting her bail and hiring a Private Investigator to look into what happened all those years ago when the children went missing.
Thomas Jefferson Dawson, T.J., is a former profiler with the FBI, and has been recommended to Lorna by her friend and true crime author Regan Landry.
When three more bodies, all young teenage boys, turn up buried near the body of Jason, all with the same cause of death, Regan's friend and FBI agent Mitch Peyton, pushes to be invited into the case. It seems now they have a serial killer on their hands and he has disposed of his victims in the back fields of Lorna's family home.
Between Lorna, Regan, T.J., and Mitch, new clues are discovered, and they now know in which direction to hunt their killer.
This book was a bit different than the earlier books by this author that I've read. This one was much slower paced. A true mystery needing to be solved. There are no awesome car chases, and our main character is not in constant fear for her life. That being said, it was still very well written. Lots of twists and turns leading you in several directions before the killer is finally discovered. I found every time I had to put the book down, I couldn't wait to pick it up again to see what was coming next.
I really liked the book, and will buy the next one in the series.
June 3, 2021
Was given this book to read from John’s grandma, and I’m pleasantly surprised! This was such a fun read and super quick. It kept me interested the entire time, and I was still trying to figure out the ending until the very end
November 2, 2019
This book was just as good as the first one. In this book we follow Lorna and discover that her farm was used as a body dump. It is believed that her friend Melinda might have been the first victim, but that is ruled out when other bodies of 14 to 17 boys were found. Melinda just didnt fit the victim type. Jason's, Melinda's brother, body was found shortly after Lotna got there. They just assumed it was his mom who killed him until more bodies were found. Lorna ended up hiring a P.I. who was able to narrow the suspect list to a couple of Jason's friends. In the end the killer was caught, and Melinda surprisingly enough was revealed to be alive. I totally plan on finishing this series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2019
I am enjoying this mystery series. I feel like the author reveals things slowly throughout making me want to keep reading the whole way through. I like how I always think different characters are guilty, but they are not necessarily the murderer (eg Rob in this one). I was glad Melinda was safe and she actually hadn’t been murdered. On to the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2020
A fun easy read. Light on the romance and heavy on the suspense which was good.
August 3, 2013
2.5. Nothing great and the last few pages feel like they were written when the author realized one of the mysteries hadn't been solved yet and she had to invent something to resolve it.
December 16, 2018
It was fine but preposterous. So much wrong with who did it and why, and the results of the arc of the missing girl? Really?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2017
Plot: Missing childhood friend, presumed murdered by older brother who disappears . . . Lorna returns home after death of mother . . . bodies are found on her land . . . young men, including the older brother . . . serial killer of young men--gay bar . . . Private I on scene. . . Lorna smitten . . . nice uncovering of plot . . . suspicion falls on Fritz, who is gay and lives in closet in community. . . police check his house . . . evidence found . . . but wait! . . . not Fritz but his brother Mike . . . Lorna nearly killed . . . saves herself by hiding until P.I. shows up and kills Mike.
So, sort of a romance thriller. Interesting in that it is not PC at all. Our female CPA protagonist hides until her man saves her. Realistic, and in a way points out the problem with PC books.
Well written, but this is probably my first and last Mariah Stewart book. Definitely a female target audience!
So, sort of a romance thriller. Interesting in that it is not PC at all. Our female CPA protagonist hides until her man saves her. Realistic, and in a way points out the problem with PC books.
Well written, but this is probably my first and last Mariah Stewart book. Definitely a female target audience!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2024
Lorna Stiles is going back home to Callen to sale her family farm. She has some doubts but when she arrives she sees a police car and an ambulance on part of the property that her mother sold, to pay her medical expenses. The Police Chief tells Lorna that they discovered a young boy buried on the land. They do an autopsy and discover it is Jason Eagen. He was murdered and the police think it was his mother, Billie Eagen. Lorna talks to Billie, who tells her, that her mother let her live at the winery cottage. Lorna realizes that maybe it wasn't Billie, so she hires a PI, former FBI agent TJ Dawson. More bodies are discovered, so the charges against Billie are withdrawn. Lorna, TJ, her friend Regan and Mitch, the FBI agent work together to find out what the story is. They arrest Fritz but he is not the guilty party, but his brother Mike is the guilty party. Who will save Lorna from him when she figures it out because he molested her brother Rob.
February 7, 2021
This is a comfortable fair-to-middling novel where a woman returns to her home town to sell her recently deceased mother’s house. The only problem is that the corpses of dead males are found on her land, not a real selling point. Lorna, the main character, is thrown into her 9-year-old self and the disappearance of her best friend.
My only complaint was the ending. It was too limited in details and the description of the girl’s disappearance seemed convoluted and thus, irritating!
My only complaint was the ending. It was too limited in details and the description of the girl’s disappearance seemed convoluted and thus, irritating!
July 18, 2022
A young girl disappears without a trace and years later her best friend returns to settle the estate of her deceased mother. When dead bodies are discovered on the farm where the girl was raised, all the ghosts of the past reappear. Soon Lori begins to try to solve the mystery of the dead bodies and finds herself involved with a private detective. Who is covering up and who is telling the "hard truth"; I listened to this one while walking and look forward to the next in the series.
January 19, 2024
Please…no more crabs!
It was a great book until I got to the sentence about eating the crabs! LOL 😂 That was the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life especially with the yellow guts spilling on to the newspaper! I think I drank more beer that night then I’ve ever drank in totality since then.
Love your books! I am really enjoying them. Try to stay away from the crabs though!
It was a great book until I got to the sentence about eating the crabs! LOL 😂 That was the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life especially with the yellow guts spilling on to the newspaper! I think I drank more beer that night then I’ve ever drank in totality since then.
Love your books! I am really enjoying them. Try to stay away from the crabs though!
May 30, 2021
The plot and character development was simple. It even contains the old tired theme of "boy saves girl and girl trips and has to be helped by boy". Which I could really do without ever reading or seeing again. If you want an easy read with a mostly happy ending, which honestly is sometimes what I do want depending on how life is going, then this will be enjoyable.
July 28, 2017
In this book Ms. StewartStands Alone
In this book , Miss Stewart has an entirely different cast of characters from the others in this series . She introduces a new voice as narrative , a civilian rather than a law-enforcement officer and a new locale. Equally as good as her
In this book , Miss Stewart has an entirely different cast of characters from the others in this series . She introduces a new voice as narrative , a civilian rather than a law-enforcement officer and a new locale. Equally as good as her
March 9, 2018
This was a decent mystery and the characters worked well together. The focus was more on the suspense than the romance, but I preferred the way it was handled. It felt more real. The plot moved at a decent pace and it kept my interest. I would recommend it as a quick "beach read".
July 3, 2019
Lorna goes home to a small town where she grew up to sell the family farm and carry out her mothers wishes. Bodies start turning up on the family farm and Lorna has a lot of questions about what's going on. She hires a PI to help her investigate. Great story that answers all the readers questions.
Read
May 4, 2020Every now and again I like to mix a little romance into my mystery. Mariah Stewart does a good job of writing a hard hitting whodunit mixed with a little tall dark and handsome. Not a particularly scary book but well written and fun to read.
November 16, 2022
I picked this book up at a book fair. I was skeptical about how it was written or the how the author was going to be. I was hooked a couple pages in and did not want to put it down until the end. It had a twist at the end….not what I was expecting.
April 5, 2025
A very good, fast-paced novel of suspense. The plot had some very good twists and turns and the characters had some interesting backstories. Although this book is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone story.
June 11, 2017
Pretty good , even if I figured out who dunnit. I kind of wish it was a little longer, I felt we needed to know the characters better and also what was going on with the site and police.
June 25, 2017
This one too, should get 3.5 stars.
Another well done story that also goes back many years. Well done too!
And, I liked that several of the characters continue to the next story.
Another well done story that also goes back many years. Well done too!
And, I liked that several of the characters continue to the next story.
July 28, 2017
I would give this one a 3 1/2 star if it existed. Moved quickly, held my interest, light reading for an air travel trip or Summer reading.
January 23, 2019
Again, a compelling mystery, but the romance in this felt less pasted on than in the first of the Truth series. cw for child abuse
February 2, 2019
A fun mystery novel filled with twists and turns. A quick read for snow days. I love how the author stays so true to Chesapeake Bay area with details.
August 8, 2019
Enjoyable story with a few twists and likeable characters.
May 14, 2020
A good mystery read:)
January 30, 2021
AUDIO - This followed a predictable path, but was twisty enough to keep me listening. Old cases always intrigue me as so little remains of evidence to get a feel for the criminal.
March 5, 2021
Loved it.
July 1, 2021
This was the second one by her for me, only ok.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews