Fiction Review: Trial by Twelve

Trial by Twelve, by Heather Day Gilbert is the second book in her Murder in the Mountains series. It’s the sequel to Miranda Warning (You can read my review here.), which I recommend you read first, though Trial by Twelve can stand on its own. 

This book starts each chapter with letters from an estranged father to his child. You don’t know either who the father is or the child—until the end of the book. Then, the story is told. Tess works at the Crystal Mountain Spa in West Virginia. The spa is a tony place where the clientele can get massages, different baths and treatments, in a ritzy atmosphere—incense and candles included. Tess, married mother of a toddler, is an attractive, young, pistol packing kind of West Virginia woman. She works with elegant Dani, who’s small and fashionable. Teeny defies his name, and he’s the masseuse—and a flirt.

As backhoes arrive to install an outdoor pool, they find human remains. Unfortunately, the remains seem to multiply as you flip the pages. New bodies, old corpses, and all killed in the same way: a crossbow. Who’s the killer? Almost everyone seems like they might be. Tess’s husband becomes concerned. Why should she be hanging out in harm’s way? Several people close to her had already disappeared.

You’ll enjoy this exciting murder mystery. It’s clean and well written, and the author is a Christian from West Virginia. Trial by Twelve has an authentic feel to it. (I have a feeling the author carries, too!) There are several spa resorts in West Virginia, and I can definitely imagine one of them holding some secrets.

Four stars.