The Heat of the Moon: A Rachel Goddard Mystery

by Sandra Parshall

Book Overview

Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best First Novel

If a door suddenly swings wide in your memory, what would you see?

Young veterinarian Rachel Goddard's world begins to crumble when a client rushes into the animal hospital with a basset hound struck by a car during a thunderstorm. The dog owner's terrified tot, drenched with rain, loses sight of her mother in the flurry of activity and screams, "Mommy...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159058256X
• ISBN13: 9781590582565
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

No Wonder It Won an Agatha!

Great book - held me from beginning to end. The characters are so finely drawn that they cease to be characters and become people you know. The setting is so realistic I was surprised to find I was in my home and not in McLean, VA. Seamless plotting brought me into the story. I was sorry to finish the book, the writing has a pristine quality that made me want to pick it up again as soon as I finished. Not only for the pleasure of the story, but for the pleasure of the way Parshall uses language. Looking forward to more from this author.

A Debut to Buy For

Warning: Twists and turns may cause breathlessness, cold sweats, dry mouth, heart palpitations and sleep disorder. Ask your cardiologist if this book is for you.

A Stunning Debut

A stunning debut from first time Author Sandra Parshall. Tightly written, breathtaking suspense filled mystery that takes you on a roller coaster ride from beginning to end. Memorable characters pull you into the story with skeletons rattling in every closet. As the families deepest, darkest secrets begin to emerge, the suspense just keeps building until it explodes off the page in this delightful psychological thriller that will keep you up late into the night until you have finished every last page.

A great, credible read

The Heat of the Moon is a great, fast, engaging read. Everything seems totally credible which is tough to pull off in this genre. High recommended.

Great Psychological Suspense

Reviewer: A customer from Canada Rachel Goddard, a young veterinarian, finds her ordered life starts coming apart when a child crying for her mother triggers what may be a memory of a past shrouded in mystery. Did something happen to Rachel and her younger sister Michelle when they were children? Questioning her sister and her mother yields no answers. To mother Judith, a brilliant psychologist, the past is closed, not to be questioned or discussed, while Michelle has no desire to dig into the past as that may upset her own plans. Rachel can't give up, however, and as more disturbing and frightening memories surface she's driven to discover the truth. The more she tries, however, the more resistance she finds from Judith, and Rachel realizes she and Michelle live an isolated life by design-Judith's manipulative design. Rachel finds aid with her quest and a budding romance with Luke, the owner of the clinic where she works, a romance Judith does her best to thwart. The discovery of shocking long buried secrets brings Rachel to fear that the truth will lead to heartbreak...or worse. Sandra Parshall has crafted an engrossing novel of psychological suspense, filled with unforgettable characters, and page-turning must-find-out mystery. Beautifully-written!