Death By Gravity: Sharon Linnea

Death by Gravity

Avalon Nash is back trying to solve another murder. Her new perfect life and place to live, Lake Placid, Tranquility is picturesque and beautiful. She became a bartender at the Batten Hatch the favorite bar or watering hole frequented by out of towners and now by was her new home. A new place to live and connecting to the people and collecting stories was her forte. The main theme of this novel centers around US Olympic bobsledding athletes that arrive in her bar on short break there for the tryouts. But things get tense as Brian Eddings a former Olympic gold medalist arrives with hie group of loud athletes. Working the bar and then having to clean up he insisted on helping her. Life around Avalon is not dull and the following morning she is told that Brian is dead, and she was the last person to see him alive making her the object of the police detective that dislikes her attention. She now had to be questioned. From this point on she is on the go trying to figure out if it was murder or something else. Added we are reminded of the disappearance of death of Misty Edison 20 years before. At the end of the evening Avalon after saying good night to Brian is asked to work a party with a rich family and their friends. The families are wealthy and live or spend their summers there. Things get ever more tense when Brian’s girlfriend winds up dead not long after him. The bar tending job at the mansion was great and runs off to find a friend and together they explore the mansion of a rich friend they thought was dead. Avalon cannot stop wondering what really happened to Brian, to the murdered or missing girl from 20 years ago is there a link? Marta her assistant manager and bartender has her own issues that becomes known as she claims to see ghosts and hear voices linking her up with Reverend Hannah Bricksford,  forming a friendship that will be long lasting but there is much more to this story as other members of the team show up, her cousin Reggie comes to town and this disturbs her since she does not want her family or her past to find her.

There are many players that she meets but when she meets Isabella claiming to be a reporter they both become involved in luging and riding up to the top of K120 which plays an important part in the danger and tension she experiences when agreeing to accompany her and Jeff Nash on the luge and bobsledding adventure that might cost her, her life.

There is much more to Reggie’s visit as he tells her about her MorMor and the fact that her grandmother is quite ill. Sharing some time with him made them closer but will she continue the friendship. Added Phillip the talented artist from the first book who was injured arrives and things start off slowly but what about his girlfriend and why make a pass at Avalon?

The death of Robyn causes Avalon to wonder if her death was connected to Brian’s although before she died she claimed to have found his body sitting up in his bed and did not realize that he was dead at the time. The author allows reads to wonder more about Brian and why his relationships never lasted and if there was a darker side to him. But rumors flow did he ingest something was he poisoned?

Trying to meet and talk with his mother was eerie and odd as Alma Eddings was all alone, both sons and her husband gone, and she could care less. Avalon wanted to give offer her condolences, but this woman did not heed to friends, her wishes and wanted her gone. The only person she wanted in her life was Ray and he wanted everyone else out hers but him why? Father Collum was the local Catholic Priest who officiated over the mass for Brian. Brent Davis was a local reporter and Avalon chances giving him information going to Robyn’s home, Brian’s girlfriend along with Hannah to get a funeral dress for her service for her to wear. The fun part of every chapter is the title of the chapter and the drink that was created by the author that matches the title of that chapter. For those that like interesting mixed drinks you can try your hand at all of them just need the ingredients the rest is spelled out.

Inspector Mike Spalding arrives at her bar and the two exchange a certain amount of information related to Brian and the death of Robyn. Added in she mentions a Ray, the man who is a bartender and seems attached to Alma, Brian’s mother and the suspense and danger level rises. Frank Eddings is back in town for his brother’s funeral and here is where we learn the tragic pasts of both Brian and Frank, Melissa the girl who went missing or was she murdered over 20 years ago, and two girls named Jane. The abuse inflicted on all of them by their parents went unnoticed, unreported and they suffered all their lives. What about the school or another relative or friends no one said or reported anything so why wouldn’t they run away to freedom?

The links are connected, and the ending will bring Avalon back up to the top of K120, but will she get down alive? However, a confrontation with someone causes the need for security and the police must deal with a credible threat against her.

The ending leaves you in suspense as the truth behind three deaths comes out and you will not believe who killed Robyn, why and the truth behind Brian’s death and much more. Lives were lost, pasts were hidden and then the unthinkable happens. Just how did gravity cause Jane’s death? Just how did it cause several more? Will Avalon be the next one to die by gravity or will someone be there to safe her and Hannah from a diabolical killer? When is all said and done will she go to her MorMor’s funeral? Will she leave Tranquility, or will she return? The startling truth about the Melissa is revealed and the shock waves are great than a 6.9 earthquake. Who took her and why? Why the voice of the person haunts the mind of someone for years and how did that became known in the present?
Who can she trust? Who wants her out of the way? Will she solve the murders, or will she be the next DEATH BY GRAVITY? The author has created a character that is smart, quirky, unique and you want more of her.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews