Daughter of Ashes: A Hannah Ives murder mystery by Marcia Talley

Hannah and her husband have bought a new home.  It's by the water and it looks like an English cottage.  It's cute and Hannah loves it even if it needs some work done.  No one expected a dead baby to be hidden in the fireplace...

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published September 1st, so keep an eye out for it.

Hannah can't leave a mystery alone and when the sheriff tells her there's no way to identify the baby since it appears the birth was in 1950 or so and the baby died naturally, she can't leave it alone.  She wants to know more about the house and the people who had lived there.

She's also working on a project at the courthouse.  They found an old locked room in the basement that had many old records it it.  They are moldy and falling apart but many are still salvageable.  She agrees to work with the new county clerk and her old boss to rehab what they can.  She also hopes to find more info about the house and its occupants.  

The more Hannah discovers, the more questions arise.  One young woman committed suicide at the home by drowning in the lake.  There's an old cemetery there that someone is caring for.  Eventually she learns it was the slave's cemetery.  That's just one of the secrets of this community.

The troubles go back three generations.  Murder is a side event that will protect the monied.  And somehow Hannah has ended up in the middle of it.

Hannah is not a boring character.  She fights for what's right, stands up to those who are more privileged than she is, and doesn't back down.  I admire her.  Hannah resolves this case and puts a lot of old wrongs right.  What more could you ask for?