Without Proof by Janet Sketchley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book pushed all the right buttons to get me reading: cosy mystery; Christian; Canadian. Once I started, the suspense and deft pacing kept me going.

Amy Silver and her fiancé were in a plane crash that left him dead and her with a painful hip that is a constant reminder of what happened.

As it she needed reminders from her hip; the emotional wounds are far more painful and slow in healing. She has quit her bank job to live in the Nova Scotia home of her fiancé’s best friend and his aunt. She finds the work in Michael’s art studio a peaceful respite from the past (she looks after the business side). Michael’s aunt is warm and understanding, someone she can talk to when life is more than she can handle alone.

Then a reporter hints that the plane crash may not have been an accident. Mysterious, sometimes threatening, phone calls and messages come on her phone. Her father, whom she has never met, and thought she never wanted to meet, now wants to meet her. She believes that God wants nothing to do with her. She is falling in love with Michael, but feels he is pushing her away. Can life get any more complicated?

It does, and the ending is hair-raising. Of course, everything comes out right, but in ways that I didn’t see coming.

This book has it all, mystery, romance, a spiritual message woven in that is authentic without being preachy, all in a contemporary Canadian setting.

Available in e-pub or kindle format, from Kobo, Amazon and other e-book retailers.