Product Description

Dear Readers:

Although most of you know me as a comedy writer, I was thrilled to learn Avon Books decided to republish my award-winning suspense books. Valley of the Shadow is one of my all-time favorite books!

Meet Meg Gentry, a wise-cracking, hard-nosed reporter who, after a marriage gone bad, heads back to the rural mountain town of her girlhood in a gaudy avocado green camper. Meg is hired by the local newspaper and soon meets up with old high-school flame Clay Skinner.

But Meg barely has time to settle in before her new-found tranquility is shattered. Her predecessor dies mysteriously, and a twenty-year-old skeleton of an unidentified woman is unearthed, clearly a victim of murder. Before she knows it, Meg finds herself in the middle of a series of bizarre religious ceremonies carried on by a charismatic preacher and his highly impressionable flock.

Using her reporter's nose, Meg uncovers one dark secret after another. All is not what it seems in the sleepy town of Blalock, Tennessee, and the deeper Meg digs, the closer she comes to being the next victim.

With a cast of characters you're not likely to forget, a plot with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the last page, I hope you'll enjoy reading Valley of the Shadow as much as I did writing it. I look forward to hearing from you!

Charlotte Hughes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96360 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Released on: 2004-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 338 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380784547
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Charlotte Hughes lives on Fripp Island in South Carolina.

Customer Reviews

I didn't finish it
I enjoyed the author's sense of humor, but found it grating after a while. The characters did not seem real to me. Instead, they were overdone and somewhat stereotypical. It felt like the main character was trying too hard to amuse us with her witty take on everything. I hate not to finish a book that I have purchased, but I gave up on it. The storyline definitely had potential, but I wouldn't recommend this for people who prefer more serious suspense novels.

A fun work of romantic suspense
Meg Gentry's husband Roy married her to hide the fact that he was gay from his fellow Atlanta police officers. Meg was unaware of her spouse's sexual preferences until she hired a private eye to obtain evidence of Roy's adultery. The pictures the investigator gave to Meg showed him with another man. Meg's self-esteem and her trust in men both collapsed. To escape her bitter memories, Meg quits her newspaper job and returns to her hometown of Blalock, Tennessee.

Meg obtains a job as the managing editor of the weekly newspaper and reunites with her high school sweetheart, Clay Skinner. Although she once loved him, her need to see the big city and make a name for herself prevented anything serious from developing. Now they have a chance to build the relationship they failed to develop years ago; that is if Meg survives her journalistic snooping into a headline breaking story filled with murder.

Charlotte Hughes spins a very good psychological suspense filled with action, romance, and adventure to appeal to a wide readership. VALLEY OF THE SHADOWS examines the dichotomy of the lifestyles between the townsfolk and the nearby hill people, making Appalachia come vividly alive in the minds of the audience. Although there are too many sub-plots that add nothing to the primary story line, readers will enjoy this exciting southern melodrama.

Harriet Klausner

highly entertaining and enjoyable
Move over Susan E Phillips! Here is another female character with wit and a decidedly sharp tongue. Ms. Hughes definitely has a winning style and is sure to please all her readers. I wish authors like this were more prolific. Too many of the known authors' works seem more like computerized versions of their last 10 books, or like someone else is writing them, and poorly at that. Ms. Hughes offers a well developed plot and strong characterization that is very believeable. Her book was definitely fun to read. Can't wait for her next one.