The Gold Digger

3.5 stars, rounded up

Whew, this one definitely isn't a cozy mystery! A young woman heads to America for a new life and goes to her widowed sister's farm. At the same time Ingrid is settling into her new store and planning a new life for herself, Nils is worried about his younger brother setting off on a wild-goose chase to become a mail-order husband.

The mystery thickens as Ingrid and Nils realize that maybe Sven isn't the first mail-order husband to come to the Indiana farm and vanish. But who's to blame?

I did end up with a number of unanswered questions—not surprising in an old case; but I'd have preferred a bit less artistic license in the timeline or a few more questions answered. For example, I didn't have a clue why the train station needed to be there (people did on occasion get off trains without a building there to welcome them), and I never got how Belle was attracting so many men despite her over-forty age and unattractive style, nor how she got the addresses in the first place. But overall the mood of the story and the strong characterization for Ingrid and Nils won me over.

Don't read it alone at night!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.