After hearing Dabney rave about Loreth Anne White, I knew I’d have to give her books a try. Intelligent romantic suspense is something that will make me happy anytime I can find it. With In the Waning Light, White explores the darker side of small-town life, resulting in a often unsettling book. We often speak of long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface, but in this case, the results are much more explosive. Though not perfect, most of the book worked for me, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

This book begins as many romantic suspense novels do. Readers find themselves dropped into the middle of the action viewing the scene from the perspective of a woman in danger. In this case, author Meg Brogan finds herself being flushed out of her camper by fire. Captured as she tries to escape, she knows that she is about to die.

The action then abruptly jumps back four weeks, and we start to learn what drives Meg. Meg Brogan, renowned true crime writer, is herself a victim of an unsolved crime. Meg grew up in Shelter Bay, Oregon, and appears to have had a happy life until she was almost 14. Her sister was murdered and a gravely injured Meg found nearby. In the aftermath of the terrible crime, Meg’s grieving father killed a suspect and went to prison. With her world utterly upended, Meg left town as soon as possible and never returned.

A variety of factors lead Meg back to Shelter Bay to seek closure, her strained relationship with her fiance being one of the prime reasons. Meg is determined to figure out as much as she can about what happened to her sister, and to write their story once and for all. Not surprisingly, Shelter Bay isn’t entirely welcoming Meg back with open arms. Many don’t want her reopening old wounds. After all, the terrible crime years ago shook residents’ sense of safety in their community.

The book has a number of things going for it. For starters, the author does a good job of showing just how complex and troubled Meg’s life is. The savage killing of her sister messes with her head even 22 years after the fact, and it has had an impact on her relationships. On the one hand, Meg was engaged to a successful man, but this crumbled under the strain of her difficulties dealing with the past. In addition, now that she’s back in Shelter Bay, Meg finds herself confronted with Blake Sutton, a childhood friend. Their relationship had hovered on the edge of turning to something more before her sister’s death. Blake finds himself compelled to defend Meg and to help her now that she is back in town, and Meg finds herself wondering if the two of them might have some kind of second chance.

Mixed into all of this are old clues from the past that lead Meg to the conclusion that conventional wisdom about the crime might not be so accurate. And then there are the present-day threats against Meg. The relationship side of the plot is interesting to ponder, but the suspense plotting really keeps one reading.

I went into this novel thinking it would be a dark story. And it certainly is that. Most of the time it worked for me, but then we got to the end. Without spoiling the plot, I’ll just mention that way too many crazy events get packed into that denouement. In addition, the amount of over-the-top evil mastermind plotting needed to pull off all that happens just strained the imagination.

However, if you can live with some crazy ending antics, In the Waning Light is worth a try. It’s nice as a counterpoint to the “small towns are sweetness and light” books that flooded the market in recent years, and weaves an interesting suspense setup in its own right.