The Alpine Winter

At the start of The Alpine Winter, Emma hasn’t gone far since the close of The Alpine Vengeance. Less than three weeks have passed since the harrowing events of December 4. I can’t give away too much because many of you may not have read AV yet, but I can say that Emma hasn’t been in the true spirit of Christmas despite the imminent arrival of son, Adam, and brother, Ben.Nor do Emma’s spirits lift when Ben arrives. She has a confession to make and it’s one that her priestly brother doesn’t want to hear. The visit isn’t off to an auspicious start, especially when Adam is delayed by an Alaskan white-out.But there’s still a newspaper to put out on the sometimes snowy and almost always wet streets of Alpine. It doesn’t buoy Emma’s spirits when Leo and Vida both leave town for the Christmas weekend—and Mitch Laskey suddenly goes AWOL. Emma’s only source of comfort is Sheriff Milo Dodge who finally returns from his own nerve-wracking domestic ordeal in Bellevue.Of course there are some very mysterious doings—three seemingly separate incidents, including two from out of the past. Are they linked?