Wormwood (China Bayles Mystery)

"In a class with...sleuths V.I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum,"(Publishers Weekly) China Bayles stumbles over old secrets in a Shaker village.

China's friends and family are urging her to get some rest-and a Kentucky Shaker village seems the ideal place for it. At Mount Zion, China can assist with some herbal workshops-while absorbing all things Shaker, from their furniture to their peaceful ways. But the restored modern version of the village, striving to become a popular tourist attraction, is plagued with misfortune and strife- some of it the likely result of sabotage. China and her friend Martha are hoping to get to the bottom of it.

However, much like Shaker history itself, the case appears simpler at first than it is. There is tension behind the serene exterior. And after a shocking death occurs during her stay, China will plunge into the archives of another time to connect the sins of the past with a modern-day murder.