Finished: The Lake House (Morton) Another pretty good Kate Morton page-turner, though this one didn't keep me quite as engaged. Once again the story centers around the secret mystery in a great manor house in England. The Edevane family, Eleanor, Anthony and their three daughters, Deborah, Alice and Clemmie, are living what seems to be a carefree life at their lake house in the country when finally a son is born, Theo. Theo is twelve years younger than the youngest daughter and the light of every one's life! Unfortunately, though, Anthony is plagued by flashbacks from World War I, where he went through the horrors of the trenches. He is particularly disturbed by the horrific memories of his dearest friend, Howard, like a brother to him, who decided to desert the army to be with the young French woman and her child who he has fallen in love with. Though Howard is an officer, he decides to help them escape, but the plan is foiled by the crying baby. Howard is then shot as a deserter. :-( Anthony forever blames himself, and after young Theo comes along, his bursts of "shell shock" violence get worse as he insists on making the baby quit crying. Meanwhile, Eleanor has stuck by her husband and kept his secret since neither of them want their girls to know of his illness. One night, during the annual festival at the lake house, complete with dancing, drinking and fireworks, Eleanor sets a plan in motion that affects the family for the rest of their lives. When they all wake up in the morning, baby Theo is gone. Kidnapped? Murdered? Wandered off? The mystery is never solved. Well, not solved while Eleanor and Anthony are still alive. Seventy years later, a young female detective, Sadie, has been given a month's leave for getting too emotionally involved in her own case of a young mother who left her child alone in an apartment and disappeared. The young mother's own mother suspects foul play, but the police write it off as a runaway mother. Detective Sadie Sparrow feels otherwise, but her insistence on pursuing the case gets her a suspension. When she goes to spend that time off with her grandfather, she gets caught up in the old cold case of the missing Theo Edevane. Her grandfather lives close to the estate where the tragedy occurred so many years before, Loeanneth. Sadie delves into the old library clippings about the kidnapping/possibly murder and discovers that the middle daughter, Alice, is still alive at 86 and the prolific detective novelist, A. Edevane. When Sadie finally gets in touch with Alice, and her thirtyish assistant, Peter, the pieces all start to fall together. Alice has spent years thinking she was the cause of Theo's disappearance because she'd written a wild story about the kidnapping of a toddler from his rich parents as a teenager and shared it with an estate gardener who she realized was in terrible need of money. All these years she has thought herself responsible, but Sadie and Clive,  a retired police officer who was the youngest member of the force during the Edevane case, figure everything out when Alice gives them permission to enter Loeanneth and go through her father's notebooks and her mother's letters. They all go from believing that perhaps Anthony Evedane accidentally killed Theo in a fit of shell shock, with Eleanor helping him to cover it up, to finding out the real truth...which for once, I might add, is a happy ending. :-) It took me much longer to finish this book because I just couldn't get quite as engaged, but all in all, though a little bit predictable, it was still a good Kate Morton book....and I will probably read more of hers! :-)

Finished: The Able McLaughlins (Wilson) The 1924 Pulitzer Prize winner about a community of Scottish immigrants who have settled in Iowa during the Civil War years...and specifically about the McLaughlin family. We find out quickly enough that the McLaughlin's have thirteen children, but the story focuses on their beloved son, Wully, who has been to fight in the Civil War. He arrives home one day after being held as a prisoner of war in the south. He has escaped and takes refuge at home! His mother, father and siblings are beyond delighted, but after nursing Wully back to health, realize that he's got to go back to the army. Before he goes, though, he runs an errand for his mother and meets neighboring farm girl, Chirstie. He is immediately smitten, as is she. They share an emotional kiss, and then he is off back to the war. He's kept under lock and key by his own army, as are all the soldiers who escaped, but didn't come right back so were considered deserters. Finally, a northern general pooh poohs that idea and frees the young men, but Wully is once again sick and after a few months, honorably discharged and sent home to recover. When he's back on his feet, he rushes over to see Chirstie, only to have her violently rebuff him. It takes some time, but he finally learns from her that in recent months, her cousin, Peter, had forced himself upon her and now she was expecting a baby. Furious, Wully goes to find Peter and makes him leave and never come back. Wully then marries Chirstie and suffers the disdain of his own parents and the community when they all realize that Chirstie's baby is coming so soon that Wully must have had his was with her before their wedding. Wully lets himself be shamed and plans to raise the baby as his own, and makes Chirstie promise not to tell anyone the truth. Eventually, Chirstie does tell Wully's own mother, and she restores her worshipful opinion of her son...but doesn't let him know that she knows. Wully and Chirstie build their home on McLaughlin land that his father had set aside, and happily raise baby Johnnie. Johnnie is the light of the family, and all are happy...until one day Peter comes back and approaches Chirstie when she's alone in the house with the baby! He rips her sleeve and she runs screaming from the door to get Wully. Wully hunts and hunts for Peter, determined to kill him but he's nowhere to be found. Many worrisome months go by, and Wully decides that they can't spend all their days looking over their shoulders, especially with Chirstie having to be way out on the farm alone while he's working the fields, so he decides that they'll give up the farming, which has been quite successful, and move to town. While visiting town, Wully is notified that Peter is actually lying in a nearby stable dying. The townsfolk ask Wully if he'll take Peter back in his wagon to his family to die, and he refuses. When Chirstie finds out, she begs Wully to stop the wagon and take Peter to his family. She hates Peter as much as he does, but it isn't right to let him die alone. They eventually go back to get him, and the ride back is terribly stressful, without a word or smile. Then suddenly, baby Johnnie blurts out his very first complete sentence, and Chirstie turns to Wully with the most beautiful, loving smile. They are both so happy! Peter has lifted his head and witnessed how much in love they are. Wully notices that Peter sees that and is instantly full of forgiveness rather than vengeance. He sees that it must hurt Peter more than anything else possibly could to see that Chirstie loves Wully. With that, the story ends as they continue to drive Peter to his folks. The story is pretty good, but a little, hmmm, what's the word...just a little matter-of-fact like many of the earlier novels have seemed to me. It did keep me interested though! More characters were delved into and a good sense of the upbringing of the Scottish immigrants was represented, and of the community pulling together in what was assuredly a hard life on the cold plains. And, I'm glad that Wully and Chirstie got to end up having a happy ending. :-)