NO BONES ABOUT IT

The Peckhams and the Wests keep their loves and hates strictly in the family. Mattie Peckham is the keeper of the secrets, and takes great delight in tormenting everyone with them. Her brother Virgil West and his wife Charlotte live next door with their daughter Louise and her husband, Ralph Ogden. Ralph’s secret involves the suicide of his first wife twelve years before. Then there is Duncan West, just returned from years spent living in Europe. His secret is hidden in a youthful letter he wrote Mattie years ago. Could it have anything to do with the mysterious blonde who moves in next door? When second cousin Janet comes to visit, she finds herself included in Mattie’s cruel sport-but for Mattie Peckham, that sport is about to end.

COLD BED IN THE CLAY

Audrey Adriance and her husband Don move to the university town where he has been recently employed. They are welcomed into the neighborhood by next-door Professor Dexter and his wife Rachel, and are soon introduced to the rest of the group: Clifford Cox and his formidable wife, Beulah; the Grays, Thornton and Edna, and their daughter, Margaret; and the Dexters’ guest, Detective Eric Lund. At a party that night, Audrey discovers an undercurrent of tension, heightened by her recognition of the unsavory Mr. Cox. Or could it just be that her immediate attraction to Thornton has set her on edge? Secrets are implied here. And perhaps the biggest secret is her own and Don’s-a secret that soon leads to sudden death.