What started out as an average read floated away to darker waters because of an overabundance of editing problems, transparent plot twists, and tea – yes, tea.

Lacey Summers has been asked by her beloved Uncle Henry to do some art research, specifically to delve into the origins of an obscure painting called The Lone Wolf. Henry lives in the little town of Beaver, Minnesota, and does not have access to the larger libraries as Lacey does living in Minneapolis. After traversing through some scary characters to enter the library, Lacey uncovers nothing of interest, except a chance meeting with history professor Mark Lantro.

Mark is writing a history book, but is not interested in telling the same old dry stories. He has befriended Henry and his card playing friends, and through them obtains real life information for his book. Mark has rented a house in Beaver to continue his research, and spends his time between Beaver and Minneapolis. Mark had also received a message from Henry asking him to research the old painting, and when Mark spies Henry’s niece at the library, he assumes that Lacey has manipulated their meeting. Lacey has no idea who the rude, obnoxious stranger is, other than that he claims to know her uncle. After some problems during their initial meeting, Mark drops Lacey off at her apartment.

Lacey is due to visit her uncle in Beaver, however, after Mark drops her off, she discovers that her apartment has been ransacked. Someone has stolen her copy of The Lone Wolf, as well as searched her apartment. Lacey arrives in Beaver later than she wanted to, and discovers that someone has murdered uncle Henry, for no apparent reason. Strangely, Mark arrives shortly after Lacey. Amidst their growing attraction, Lacey and Mark try to discover why someone would kill her uncle, and steal his copy of the painting. Is there a connection to the ransacking of Lacey’s apartment, and more importantly, did Mark have anything to do with Henry’s death?

The book suffers from some serious editing problems. Did Lacey work for Armstrong Investigations or Armstrong Manufacturing? Grammatical errors that could have been easily corrected were overlooked. The plot was not extremely engaging, but was acceptable until the point where the solution became painfully obvious to everyone except the characters. I wasn’t expecting an Agatha Christie type mystery, but something a little less apparent.

The author writes the story from Lacey’s point of view, with plenty of internal dialogue. Consequently, although I felt that I knew Lacey pretty well, I never connected with Mark. The reader is never given glimpses into his thoughts, or what makes him tick, other than his fear of manipulative women, like his ex-wife. Lacey seemed to be an almost virginal heroine, an interesting experience for a woman who had previously been in a perfectly normal marriage, except for the wandering eyes of her ex-spouse.

The pace of the story bogged down in the myriad of details. Some details are integral to the story, but a treatise on Lacey’s tea and cocoa consumption every other page is totally unwarranted.

By necessity, an e-book must be engaging to keep the reader’s attention at the computer screen. With some better editing, less superfluous details, and more character insight, this e-book might have done a better job at keeping my interest. If you are looking for an e-book to try for the first time, a different selection is in order.