Shadows of Summers Past — Mildred Ames

Surely the dark past could now be forgotten. A lucky twist of fate had brought Shannon Odell a small inheritance and a sunny New England cottage by the sea. Shannon was thrilled by the opportunity to pursue her interest in painting. Her delight was tinged with sadness, however, for the cottage had previously been occupied by her sister, Kathy, who had been killed in an automobile accident just the summer before.

Kathy's fatal accident was painfully reminiscent of their mother's death in a flaming auto years before. Since that time the two sisters had been separated, living with relatives on opposite sides of the continent, corresponding only occasionally.

Shannon had been mystified by Kathy's last letter to her, in which she had expressed uncertainly over her impending marriage to Brant Ives, son of the town's leading family. She was even more perplexed--and furiously angry--when she met Brant. Although stunningly attractive, he ws unmercifully rude. And more disturbing, her professed nothing but disdain for all of the Odells. But he had been planning to marry an Odell-Kathy.

A string of discoveries plunged Shannon's sunny retreat into deepening shadows. As specters of a dim and violent past moved ever closer, Shannon knew she must try to swerve the hand of fate that had precipitated tragedy between the Odells and the Iveses for two generations--even if it meant suspecting the man she loved of murder.