Dark Place, Where Grief and Heroism Meet

By Devorah Fox

Violette Smythe thought grief would be the hardest thing she ever faced. After her husband's death, she finds small clues, including a metal coil toy, that refuse to let her rest. Her tender attempt to preserve memory spirals into something far more dangerous when the Slinky evokes visions of jungle warfare and a massacre that left David the lone survivor.

As Vi follows the breadcrumbed trail from attic trunks to dusty military files, her gentle coastal town reveals a darker architecture: veterans with secrets, a VFW post with conflicting loyalties, and a retired lieutenant with too much to lose. Every question she asks stirs up someone who would prefer the past stay dead-someone willing to sabotage her car, lock her into a vault, and plant a bomb in her living room.

Now Vi must stifle her fear and trust a ragtag circle of veterans, a cop with a quiet persistence, and the odd Slinky that keeps walking out of her hands. To clear her husband's name-and save her own-she must confront the chain of command that hid a wartime betrayal. The truth may set a memory free, but it could also get her killed.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0998478032
• ISBN13: 9780998478036
• Release Date: June 2026
• Publisher: Mike Byrnes and Associates, Inc.
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"