Broken Hearts, Broken Promises

“I’m not normally a reader of romance novels – even those with a strong mystery element – but I am a sucker for good storytelling. When my publisher sent me one to sample, I was hooked. This is number 17 in the series. It made me go back and read the other 16.”
-Edward Squires, Not Quite Novellas II

Lynn and Dusty are distracted by marriage problems in the family. One of Dusty’s brothers, Kent, admits to marital difficulties. And Piper confides in Lynn that her marriage to Will is in trouble. As Lynn and Dusty mourn the marriage problems among those they cherish, Lynn literally stumbles over a dead body on the community college campus. The victim, a professor known to be a womanizer, is suspected of having had an affair with Allison, Dusty’s sister-in-law. Did Dusty’s brother murder the man? And will Dusty’s relationship to the suspect compromise the investigation? As the detectives are caught up in solving a murder, an old friend returns to River Bend. Sean Hennessey, multimillionaire, comes home, telling Lynn he has traveled the world and has learned that money is no substitute for friends and family. The gang muddles through the murder investigation while old friends reconnect and the issues in Piper and Will’s marriage become more complex.

Renee Kumor has lived in North Carolina for over thirty years. The setting for the River Bend Chronicles series reflects her early life in Ohio and her later years in western North Carolina. She was a stay-at-home mom for several years developing a personal ethic of community service. Through the years as her children aged, she became active in the political and non-profit life of the community. After eight years as a county commissioner, she returned to non-profit service and began writing a monthly column for the newspaper on non-profit management and service issues.