Bred to the Bone: Deadly Secrets at Hunter’s Water Mill, the long-awaited novel by Lin Waterhouse, has been released by Open Road Publishing!!
Dark secrets, snakes, stalkings, and murders…
Retired schoolteacher Caroline Hudson has moved to Hickory Bend, Missouri to embrace small-town life, but her eagerness to join the community only rouses the suspicions of longtime residents. Luckily, her friend Terry needs help fixing up the old Hunter’s Mill. Caroline is thrilled to learn about her new home through this historic building; especially when she discovers some fascinating documents hidden in the attic. These documents reveal family secrets of prejudice, pride, murder, and mayhem. Just the kind of story that piques Caroline’s curiosity, but some residents would prefer to keep the unpleasantness buried in the past. When someone launches a cover-up as shocking and foolhardy as the original crime, it could bring a permanent end to Caroline’s new career in sleuthing.
You, too, can enjoy the grandeur of that very water mill should you stop by on your way through the Ozarks. Hodgson’s Water Mill in Sycamore, Missouri was built in 1861, to harness the power of a massive spring flowing into Bryant Creek, and rebuilt in 1897 by Alva Hodgson. It is officially registered in the National Register of Historic Places. Being only about thirty foot above water level, when the creek crests the county puts marks on the door that is on the upper level. And to this day, you can go to any grocery store and purchase flour with the Hodgson name. Waterhouse only lived a couple of miles from this beautiful gift of history and is acquainted with the operators of the now must-see tourist site. It is located 17 miles northeast of Gainesville on Hwy. 181 in the Sycamore area. It is advertised as the most photographed mill in Missouri.
Waterhouse is a freelance journalist/writer who lived in Ozark County, Missouri for many years. She has written articles for local and regional newspapers and magazines, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Ozark Mountaineer, Ozark Magazine, and The Ozark County Times. Her nonfiction, The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion, the story and history behind the still unsolved Bond Hall explosion/fire Friday, April 13, 1928 in West Plains, Missouri, was published by The History Press/Arcadia Publishing. Its detailed research and personal interviews with residents of West Plains posed and answered many questions surrounding the ill-fated night so long ago. The sequel to Bred to the Bone, The Ghost of Timmy Wahl: Eternal Secrets at Hunter’s Mill (Argus Publishing), begins with the unfolding of a mystery dating back over eighty years. Four-year-old Timmy Wahl, in death, is about to impact the lives of more people than he ever knew when he was alive. www.linwaterhouse.org Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency