A SHADOW ON MERRIMACK RIVER by Daniela Alibrandi

Diana's father has died and the remaining family has moved to the states for a year.  A change of environment should relieve the grieving process and this will give them the opportunity to try stateside living versus Italian.  Obviously, there are several shocking differences because the cultures are different.  Diana is more old country, the other students are all "now".  Diana doesn't realize that danger has come with her.

Goddess Fish Blog and the author allowed me to download a copy of this book for review (thank you).  You can buy a copy at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

This story has been translated from Italian and the sentences are structured differently from how we speak in English.  My grandparents were Czechoslovakian and their friends who came to visit spoke in this way, too.  It's not hard to understand, it just took me back to my childhood when I started reading it.

Diana has one good friend in school.  Jenny is fat and lives in an abusive home but she has a sweet personality and is fun to be around.  They go ice skating on the river after school one day.  It's forbidden but they note where the ice is safe and sneak out skating anyway.  Diana almost gets claimed by the river but her frantic scrambling is not just because of that.  She saw a body under the ice...

Jenny refuses to tell anyone.  She'll get beat again if she admits she was there.  She also says she'll say Diana was lying.  So Diana has only one choice.  She'll have to figure out what happened to him herself.  The body is located, but it's in bad shape and has no ID.  That's doesn't stop Diana.

The girls are playing a dangerous game; one that will end with dreadful results.  Diana has the identity of the murderer wrong.  Part of that is because her mother is falling in love with an American and she doesn't want her to marry him.  She'd rather consider him a murderer than allow him to marry her mother.

This is a twisted tale with an ironic ending.  I'm sure you won't figure out who the killer is until the end of the story.  Even then it's a shock that will stick with you for a while.

Why not see how good a detective you are?

Daniela will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  Tour Dates

Good luck and happy reading.