DAUGHTER OF THE STARS is the story of Lacey Elliot, and her search for answers about a family she knows nothing about. Her mother Amelia is recovering from cancer surgery when she receives a letter that Lacey intercepts. The letter is from a relative, Vinnie, who is the sister of Amelia's deceased mother Ida. From this letter, Lacey's search for her roots begins. She travels to Harper's Ferry where Vinnie and other family members reside, and soon Lacey finds out the many secrets that her mother kept all those years.
The main secret is a possible murder, the unsolved murder or disappearance of Lacey's father Brad. No one seems to know what really happened. Was he really murdered? Or did he just disappear without a trace? His involvement with Amelia's sister Ardra was what caused the disappearance, but no one wants to talk about it.
Lacey gets deeper and deeper involved, befriending a family friend and historian, Ryan, whom she falls in love with. Between the two of them they unravel the secrets that lie at Harper's Ferry.
Fast paced suspenseful romantic mystery.
After receiving an urgent letter, children's-book author Lacey Elliott rushes from her Virginia home to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., hoping to uncover the truth about her father's murder. She encounters an assortment of relatives: great-aunt Vinnie, who harbors a secret; grandfather Daniel, who was suspected of the murder; a half-sister, Caryl, and her young son Egan; great-grandmother Lacey; and Henry Elliot, her father's strange, drunkard brother. She also meets handsome history professor Ryan Pearce-their blossoming romance is chastely indicated by a few innocent kisses. The mystery is heightened by the presence of a few Civil War ghosts who ultimately shed light on the killing. Whitney depicts both the town itself and the raid conducted there by abolitionist John Brown (as narrated by one of the characters) with her customary attention to background details. Suspense fans will be caught up in this yarn's myriad plot twists, which culminate in a gratifying surprise ending.
"Were they all lying? Misleading me for their own purposes?..."
Lacey Elliot has been a woman without a past since the day her mother whisked her off to Charlottesville, refusing for thirty years to speak of her father, her family, or her history.
But when Lacey intercepts a desperate letter from an aunt in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Lacey sees her chance to confront the past that has terrified her mother and to fill in the gaps in her own life.
Against the charm and colorful, turbulent history of the picturesque town, the violent history of Lacey's heritage is about to repeat itself. As she finds herself drawn to a man intrigued by the town for reasons of his own, old ghosts reappear and danger returns--as a killer walks among them once more....
"Evocative, moving, suspenseful--another surefire winner from the writer who taught all of us how it should be done."
